The Illusive Number 5
by hsw2710
Summary: John, Sam and Six are searching out the other Loriens, namely Number Five. Continuation of Movie.
1. Chapter 1

**THE ILLUSIVE NUMBER 5**

There are 6 of us left.

Our race sent 10 of us to earth, in the hope that one day we will be able to fight off the Mogadorians, and reclaim back our home planet from their hold.

That wasn't going to happen.

They destroyed Lorien, and all who remained on it.

Number 1, 2, and 3 were murdered brutally by the Mogadorians. Due to a protective charm placed on us before we left our home planet, we could only be killed in sequence. It gave us a chance to grow, to adapt, to become stronger, faster.

We hadn't left this war without casualities. Henri, my Capan and protector since birth, was killed by a Mogadorian soldier. If it wasn't for another Lorien, Number Six, I would be dead too. We fought off the aliens sucessfully with the use of our legacies, abilites bestowed upon us by our parents.

They were impressive. Each Lorien had the power of telekenesis, the ability to move things with our minds.

My first Legacy was Lumen, a powerful light that came from my hands. I was also impervious to heat.

Another was animal telepathy. It had saved my life in the battle. But the war isn't over.

Our enemies are relentless. They are coming for us. They are coming for me.

My name is John Smith.

I am Number Four.


	2. Chapter 2

_AN: Forget to put disclaimer._

_I don't own anything to do with 'I Am Number Four' but if I did, I'd change the title to 'Number Six is Friggin Awesome' _

**CHAPTER ONE **

"It's raining."

"When is it _not_ raining. We've been here a week now, haven't seen the sun once. Forgotten what it looks like. Do you think Six can change it?"

"Probably," I am lying on the small beat-up couch in our apartment, where I've been for the better part of a day. "But we wouldn't want to draw any attention. It rains in London, that's just how it is. I think the Mogadorians would get a little concerned if there were dramatic weather changes."

"I guess."

Sam was sitting in front of his computer. He sat there most of the day, trawling through the web for any signs of the other Loriens, or Mogadorians. He had taken over Henri's job in a way. The memory of my old Cepan still bought up this dull empty thud in my heart.

In every way that mattered, he'd been my father, had looked out for me my entire life. And he was gone. It had been almost 10 months since I had left Paradise, Ohio. It felt longer then forever. Especially considering who I had left behind.

We were on the road 90% of the time now, moving from town to town, city to city, hiding and seeking at the same time. The Mogadorians had lost our trail from Paradise, all the scouts and soldiers having been killed in the last battle. I still didn't have a plan, none of us did. We just had a goal.

Find the others, number 5, 7, 8, 9 an 10, and bring the fight to the Mogadorians. Hiding was no longer an option for us, the death of the first three evidence of that. They would keep searching until we were dead. Unless we fought back.

My legacies were strengthening with every day that passed. Six had shown me some tips, her's were more advanced then my own, I guess she'd needed to use them a lot more then I since her Cepan had been killed when she was young. The Lumen from my hands could be controlled now, from a dull glow to a light so shearingly bright it burnt to look at.

I still did my training for telekinesis, Sam helping by throwing things in different directions at the same time. I once went out at night and practiced lifting trucks. A huge concrete truck had been the most difficult, but I still held it two or three feet of the air for a minute before I succumbed to exhaustion. It had crashed to the ground with a bang that left my ears ringing for 10 minutes afterwards. I hightailed the hell out of there.

And my animal telepathy. I really only used to it to communicate with Bernie. Cows generally didn't talk about much, fish barely any words at all. Cats were interesting, sly and sneaky. I enjoyed talking to them.

The door to our apartment opened, and Six walked in, Bernie in tow, her arms full of soaked brown paper bags. "I'm damn sick of this rain. I'm leaving the day we find another clue, I swear."

"I agree. Rain is depressing," Sam jumped to his feet, releaving her of the bags and carrying them to the apartments small run-down kitchen. "Yeah, you got MM's!"

Six smiled, shrugging out of her leather jacket and tossing it onto the table. "You alright, John?"

I nodded, although it was a lie, and she knew it. But she didn't press on and I didn't make the effort to tell her. Maybe it was because we were the same species, shared the same history, but we just _understood_ each other. She knew how I felt, and I knew how she felt.

Both of us were scared shitless.

We had no idea what we were doing, hell we were only 17. Both our carers had been murdered by the Mogadorians, we were on the run from an enemy that could decimate us, searching for people who were experts at remaining elusive, who survived on hiding.

It wasn't like we could send out an email. _Hey, if you're a Lorien hiding on earth, then please e-mail me your location. Don't worry, I not a Mogadorian. Trust me _

Yeah, that would go down _real _well.

We had used the stone, but even though we knew Number 5 was in London, it was still incredibly difficult searching for a person you didn't know in a city you'd never been in before. But it was hope.

It was hope.

Later that evening, I got up from the couch and walked to the kitchen. Our diet left much to be desired, a lot of fast food, tuna and soup cans. I tried to eat well, Henri was pretty strict on that, and I didn't want to forget what he taught me. It had already saved my life so far.

I cooked up a stiry-fry, one of the only things from home-ec class I learnt. The wooden spoon paused in my hand. Home-ec class. Back at highschool in Paradise, Ohio. Back with Sarah.

I drop the spoon, and grip the edge of the bench so tightly I feel the wood crunching beneath my hands. I don't let myself think back to the happy memories often. The ones where Sarah and I made snow angels in the clearing, or held hands on the Halloween Scare Ride. I definitely don't let myself remember the kisses we shared. Every single one of them. My hands tighten, and the wood splinters and cracks beneath my hands, snapping right off.

Six comes walking out from the bathroom, her hair still damp from the shower. "Well, there goes our bond."

I come back to reality, and realise what I've done. "Sorry."

"Hey, I could care less. We've got plenty of money," she moved past me into the bedroom.

The apartment was tiny, one bedroom which Sarah took. I crashed on the couch, and Sam took to the floor on little foam mattress. It wasn't ideal, but we didn't plan on hanging around for too long. Besides, it was as inconspicuous as they could get, tucked into a dingy street with plenty of escape routes. That's what really sold us.

I served up the food, but I found my appetite was gone. Sam's wasn't, he enhaled his food, before returning to his computer screen. I grabbed my jacket and phone, throwing it on.

"I'm going for a run," I annouce. Bernie immediately jumpes to his feet, trotting over.

"_I will come_" his voice wafts through my head, and I nod knowingly. We really didn't do much apart anymore. He was the most loyal friend I'd ever had.

Outside, I jog for a bit in the rain, dodging past people. I didn't really have a destination, but ended up in a pub about 6 blocks from the apartment. Bernie stays outside, curling up under a table.

Inside, I order a pint, sitting in a corner booth. I'm not carded, but I have an ID that listed me as 21 anyway, a going away gift from Henri. '_Just in case_', I smiled.

I pulled my phone from my pocket. It only had one number in it. I sent a message, three words.

I miss you

About 7 seconds later, my phone buzzed.

I love you

I felt empty in my gut. I missed her. Perhaps the biggest understatement of the century, no matter what planet you were on. Some days I just wanted to sprint back to Ohio, Mogadorians be damned. Some nights I tossed and turned until the sun came came up.

Even though I texted her as much as I could, in a way, it made it harder to be apart. Every few weeks, I ditched the sim and got a new one, it was important not to put down roots in anyway, nothing permanent.

The phone buzzed again. R u safe?

I put my forehead to the table, taking a deep breath. For the moment

There was a long pause before the next message. Come get me

The breath leaves my lungs. U knw I wnt to, more then anything

So come. I'll leav here, I dnt care whr I am, as lng as I'm with you. Come get me

She asked me to come for her almost every day. Each time whittled away a little of my resolve. I had entertained the thought of her coming with us. This life would be a lot more tolerable, that was for shit sure. I would sleep a lot bettter knowing she was by my side.

But in that same way, I would be constantly worried. We were targets, no matter how much we convinced ourselves we were safe. And if Sarah was with me, she would be in danger.

I loved her too much for that.

You knw I want to. It's too dangerous

2 minutes later, another buzz. U risked ur life for me so many times, John. I'm not afraid of ur enemies. Since I met u, U've changed my life. I dnt want 2 be apart anymore…

My resolve falters completely. I dnt want to be apart either. I'll come to see u soon, as soon as it's safe. I promise

See me and leave me

I finish my pint, wiping my mouth clear of the beer and getting to my feet. I don't know what to reply to Sarah's text. As much as I don't want to, it's exactly what I will do. I cop-out. I'm ditching this sim, I'll text you when I get a new one. I love you

I hit the send, and once it's gone, remove the sim and drop it to the ground. I stamp on it, my anger fueling my strength, grinding the card to dust.

Bernie comes over, nuzzling my leg with his nose, making me feel a tiny bit better. 'Come on,' I tell him, bending down to pat his head. 'I'll race you back, and no cheating.'

If dogs can smile, Bernie does. '_I don't need to cheat_.' The beagle takes off, and I laugh, spirinting after him.


	3. Chapter 3

_AN: This story is primarily based of the movie, but a few things come from the book aswell. I'm trying to remain as canon to both as possible, but this acts an apology for any mistakes I make._

_I don't own anything to do with I Am Number Four. 'Tear'_

**CHAPTER TWO**

Sam and Six are on the couch/ my bed, watching TV when I get back, reruns of the sitcom _Friends_. Sam had popped some popcorn, the aroma filling our small space in it's entirety.

"Which one is this?" I ask.

"The one where there's a black out and Chandler get's stuck in the bank with that model," Sam replies. It's the opening credits on now.

If there's one thing I learnt about Sam over our time together, it was that he was a walking Internet Movie Database. Sometimes, his knowledge of television and movies was so vast I have to wonder whether he's a Lorien himself. Either that, or the son of a Lorien and human.

I'd imagine his brain looks like a lightning storm, shooting sparks of info from one part to another, processing and churning through data. Loriens may have gifts, but the human brain was still an amazing machine. The greatest computer ever.

"Did you speak with Sarah?" I noticed Six had picked up the English accent. She was an expert at blending in, accents and clothing and mannerisms, something I still had to grasp.

"I texted her," I reply, sitting down on the couch.

"How is she?" This time it was Sam who asked. He and Sarah had become friends before they had left.

I look down at my hands, picking at some loose skin. "She's… lonely. She wants me to come and get her."

Six looks away from the TV. "And are you… going to get her?"

I avoid eye contact. "I told her it's too dangerous."

"Good. I only have two hands."

She was, of course, referring to her abilty to turn invisible, and make things she touched invisible. It had proved invaluable, especially during the fight at the school back in Paradise. And it was useful when they needed to sneak onto planes or buses too.

I clear my throat. "I am going to see her though. Soon."

There's silence for a while. If Henri were here, he'd tell me I'm crazy, there was no way I was going back there, you can forget it. I almost hear his rough voice echoing in my head. But Henri was dead, and Six's Cepan was dead. There was nobody around to tell us where we should go and what we should do. If we made a mistake, it was our mistake.

The episode ends, and Sam get's up and moves to his spot in front of the computer screen. He runs a hand through his unruly brown hair. It was getting long. I reach up, realise with a start mine's in serious need of a cut aswell.

"You're just gonna waltz over to the airport, catch a plane and go back to the same place all of us almost died ten months ago?" Six was angry. I didn't blame her.

"I won't go back to Ohio. I'll get her to meet me someplace else, discreet."

Six looked like she wanted to say something, but she kept her mouth shut. I folded my arms, firm in my resolve. I last about two minutes before caving with an exaggerated sigh. "What do you want to say?"

"Nothing."

"Come on. Tell me. You've been doing this for way longer then I have. Tell me your advice."

Six turned to face me completely, swiveling on the couch. "Here's what I think. You'll go to Nashville, or Colorado, or wherever to meet up with Sarah, spend a day or two with her, probably do the dirty."

I roll my eyes.

"And you'll come back with her. I saw the look on both of your faces when we left that graveyard. She was tore up and you even more so. I highly doubt you'll be able to leave her twice John." She flicked a strand of long blonde hair over her shoulder. "And I'm hardly ever wrong."

I sit in silence, pondering over her words. Her very true words.

"And something more, my Cepan once told me that the bond Lorien's form with their partners is unbreakable, the truest form of love. I don't know how on earth… or Lorien for that matter, you'll be able to leave her again."

"So you don't think I should go at all?"

"It's only been 10 months, John. This thing we're doing, finding the others, it could take years. Probably will at the rate we're moving at."

I looked down, feeling more empty with each word spoken.

Six watched him, could feel his pain herself. "I haven't ever gotten close to a human, or anyone before, I can't tell you what to do. If you _have _to see her, go. I'm not going to stop you. But if you want to go through breaking her heart and shattering yours again, that's all on you." She got up, walking over to Sam. "I'm going to bed. Let me know if anything turns up." She pats him on the shoulder, heading away.

I notice Sam's cheeks go red at the touch, but don't pull him up on it. If he is into Six, good on him. One of us should be happy around this place.

Six is right. She usually is, I should be getting used to it by now. Sarah Hart was the best thing that could have happened to me, but there wasn't any room in my life for her at the moment. I didn't know when there ever would be time for her.

I see her in my mind, as clear as the pictures she takes. Her smile that made my breathing stop in its tracks, her sparkling green eyes that made everything bad in my life disappear. It was just my luck I find the perfect girl right before my life turns to absolute shit.

A part of me, a very small part wishes I never met her. This mission I was on would be a lot less difficult. And she would be a lot more happier. It's killing me being apart, and knowing that she's hurting. Why couldn't I have just listened to Henri? Attachments make the whole situation complex, love makes it impossible.

If I had just remained inconspicuous, then Sarah would have been polite, smiled, laughed, and moved on to live a happy, full life with another man.

Even the completely irrational thought of her with someone else is enough to throw fuel on the already raging fire of anger and regret. I can't actually believe I'm jealous of her with a completely fabricated person. It just showed me how deep I was invested in her. It wasn't good for either of us.

I fall onto the couch, my bed, shut my eyes, and try to sleep.

My dreams are plagued by memories. Mermories of the destruction of my homeworld, the death of my father playing out again and again like the unholiest movie ever. Then memories more recent. Facing that horrible Mogadorian soldier in the forest, the burn of his dagger in my flesh. Bernie caught in the fangs of that giant beast, the life squeezing from him with every second that goes by. And Henri in my arms, blood pouring from his chest as he whispered parting words.

I'm crying in my sleep.

_AN: Let me know what you think, and any suggestions on what should happen. I kind of have an idea of where I'm going (I think) but feel free to drop me a line. _


	4. Chapter 4

_AN : Alright, next chapters up. Thanks for all the reviews and ideas of where to go with this, don't worry, I don't think I can keep John and Sarah apart for too much longer. _

_Don't own anything to do with 'I Am Number Four'. _

**CHAPTER THREE**

One week on, and we still haven't heard anything or seen anything that could lead us to Number 5. The disappointment was setlling in now, like a heavy brick in my chest. Disapointment, sadness, regret, pain, resentment, all swirling around in me like a storm raging out of control.

"There has to be something else we can do," Sam was saying after a particularly depressing day. The constant bad weather didn't help. I used to like the sound of rain on the roof. Now I wanted nothing more then some damn silence. I was in a foul mood after having an argument with Sarah last night about us constantly being apart, which ended in me crushing my phone into pieces. Sam's words aggravated me.

"Like what, genius? Put up fliers, send out a flare, get a freakin ad on the TV?" I'm being an ass but I don't care. Sam looks like a crushed little puppy and it makes me feel even worse.

"Cool it." Six's words feel more like a warning, and I take a few deep breaths. "We all knew this wasn't going to be easy. Hell, tracking you down was damn near impossible and you were the most useless person at remaining hidden. But if the Mogadorians can find us, we can find each other. And it's way more important now. With us two together, the charm is broken and the others can be killed. Thankfully, the Mogadorians don't know this yet."

"We don't know that," I say. "Just because no scars have shown up, it could mean that they haven't found any of the others yet."

Six shrugs. "All the more reason we need to find them first."

A week or so after Henri died, as we were on the road drving away from Ohio, Six and I had made an agreement, a pact. If a scar turns up on our ankle, then we had to split apart, no questions, no arguments. The death of another Lorien would be on our hands, since we were the ones breaking the charm. If we split, the Charm would uphold, and the others would be safe.

I wouldn't.

I clasp my hands in front of me, banging my head on the table a couple of times, searching through my brain for anything that might help. Funnily enough, the banging seems to help. "What about those post-it notes at that reporters house," I offer. "There was one that said the Mogadorians had tracked number 9 to South Africa, and Henri had found an article on the web about a young girl lifting a man from earthquake rubble. Maybe there was a picture, some sort of photo evidence so we know what she might look like."

It was a long shot. When Henri was alive, he spent hours on the web, searching out any photo of me and deleting it immediately. In cyber space, Loriens didn't exist, it was vital to our survival. Mogadorians were disgusting beings, sure, but they were resourceful, planners. They'd use anything they could to find us. If Number Nine's Cepan had been killed like Six and I's, there could be a chance of a photo. A slim chance.

Sam's fingers were typing on the computer in a blur as I spoke. "I know it's not much to go on."

"It's still something," Six puts a hand on my shoulder. It was warm, comforting. I couldn't quite put a name to the bond Six and I share. It was almost immediate, like meeting someone and knowing you can trust them instantaneously. Even though she and I were around the same age, she was more like an older sister to me.

Well, I guess, she seemed like what an older sister _should_ feel like, considering I'd never had one before.

It sounded a bit geeky, and amaturish, but I felt safer when she was around, like she would know what to do if something happened. And most of the time, she did know.

If Six hadn't turned up back in Paradise, we would all be dead, Sarah, Mark, Sam, Henri, Bernie and me would be lying at the school grounds, sword wounds piercing our chests, more casualties of the bloody mess the Mogadorians were leaving. There was no doubt in my mind.

Her fighting skills were impressive, she could beat the crap out of me, no question. I saw her run up a wall, somersault from it, turn invisible midway and appear ten feet down the hall, her swords stabbing two scouts clear through the chest, killing them before they knew what happened. It seemed with her, we had a decent shot at winning this war. And hopefully the others we find have developed their legacies aswell.

Sam seemed hellbent on discovering whatever he was looking for. When he got in these moods, there was little that could distract him. I bet the only thing that could break his concentration now was if Six walked out without a top on. I almost laugh aloud at the thought.

An hour or so passes by, I watch the news but nothing of interest comes on, no amazing feats performed by regular citizens, no missing Lorien investigations pending. I laugh, that would make it too easy. The news finishes, I'm bored, so I walk into Six room, where I find her sitting on her bed, her hand outstreched to the corner. Due to our small living arrangements, area's to train were hard to come by. To practice our telekenesis, we had lugged weights up, 300 kgs worth of metal. It was good exercise, if nothing else.

Six was currently juggling three 50kg around in the air, not even breaking a sweat. "My Cepan, Katerina, told me once that as long as you use your legacies, even in the smallest ways, they'll strengthen. Kind of like working your muscles. I use to play with fire growing up. When my first legacy hit, it was in chemistry class. I set the classroom on fire."

I sit on the edge of her bed, listening intently.

"They put it down to a bad mix of chemicals, what else could it have been? No sane person thinks that new girl at school is an alien with powers that control the elements, right?" Six continues moving the weights, but her hand drops slowly, her eyes fixed before her. "Katerina wanted to move us but I told her it would be more suspicious then sticking around. I was 14 at the time. I knew I was number 6, knew only 2 had been killed so far. I knew I was safe. But from the beginning, I trained with a view to kill the Mogadorians. I never wanted to hide." She set the weights down gently, turning to face me. Her green eyes are burning with emotion, anger. "When I first got visions of the destruction of Lorien, I saw my grandparents, both of them, stabbed through the chest by the same soldier. When I fight, I imagine each Mogadorian is that soldier. It makes me angry, powerful."

"Henri told me that our legacies develop from an emotional response. I guess they react with our emotions as well, get stronger, like anger and pain fuels them."

Six nods.

"I have a memory, my father fighting one of those beasts that was back at the school. He levitated the entire thing, threw it to the ground like you did that weasle. He had the same power as you, manipulation of the elements." I look down at my hands. "I have glowing torch hands. Fancy."

Six fixes her eyes to my hands. "You're power is far more useful then you think."

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"Mogadorians don't do well in light. Their skin burns, they go blind. That's why they were those trenchcoats and glasses, only move around at night."

"And here I thought it was for their image," I made quotation marks with my hands.

"John, don't you get it?"

"Get what?" I demand. "The only thing I'm getting is frustrated."

"You're power," she snatches my hand in hers. "Make it glow."

I do as I'm told, my light coming on dimly.

"Brighter," she says, and I oblige. The light coming off now is like that of a candle. "Brighter, John." I let the power free, and the light shoot like a beam at the ceiling. It's so bright it hurts to look at. I shut it off but the light still burns, like I've been looking at the sun for too long when I shut my eyes I still see it.

"You shine that in the face of a Mongadorian, he's out for the count. It overwhelms them, confuses them, drives them crazy. You can make your enemy weaker with your light. Hell, they'd probably turn on themselves just to make the light go away. You're Lumes swings the battle in our favor." I sit there, taking in her words. I always used Lumes as a defensive, guiding me where I needed to go, showing me where the enemies are.

Could I really use light as a weapon?

I look up, and see Six eyeing my hair with a frown on her face. "Yeah, I know I need a haircut," I mumble, running a hand through it.

"I'll do it." She disappears from the room, and returns a minute later with a pair of scissors. "I kind of like cutting hair," she admits.

I let her maneuver me into a chair. "Maybe after this war is over you should become a hairdresser."

Six laughs. "Yeah. Maybe." For a while, theres no sound except the _ching_ as the scissors open and shut. "I think we'll be a bit busy rebuilding our home planet, don't you think?"

Right. The weight of the world was literally on our shoulders, how could I forget? I look down at my hands, taking a deep breath. "I'm in love with Sarah."

"I know."

"When this war is over, I'm going back to her, Six."

"Leave the repopulating to the rest of us, huh?" She was joking, and I smiled.

"Something like that."

Six's hands paused in my hair. "I gotta admit John… I'm kinda jealous of Sarah."

I tilt my head to look at her. "You mean…"

She looks at me for a moment, before realisation floods her eyes. Six immediately shakes her head side to side. "Oh God, no. Yuck John, that's disgusting!"

"Ditto." I exhale a sigh of relief. That would be one awkward love triangle. I remember Sam. Well, more of an awkward love square.

She continues on, twisting my head forward roughly. "I meant, it would be nice to have someone feel that way about me, that's all."

She steps back from the chair, and I turn to look in the tiny mirror on her wall. She'd cut it shorter along the sides, leaving a bit of length on the top. I ran a hand through it approvingly.

"Thanks." I stand up. "For the haircut, and the talk."

"I'll give you a haircut anytime, Four." She tosses me the scissors, which I catch with telekenensis. "The talk, you only get once."

_AN: Let me know what you guys think, I'm trying keep the characters as close to the movie and book as I can. _


	5. Chapter 5

_AN: Thanks for the reviews. Once again, don't own anything to do with 'I Am Number Four' just taking advantage of its awesomeness._

**CHAPTER FOUR**

"Owe!" Sam cries for the fifth time as Six hits him up the side of his head with her open hand. "I get it , I suck, can you please stop hitting me!" He rubs the spot tenderly. "I'm going to be brain-damaged by the time this is over."

"You're going to be dead if you don't man up, now hit me!"

I laugh, Six was always the sensitive one.

"I'm not going to hit you," Sam puts his hands up, earning another hit from Six that has him reeling on the backfoot.

"Come on Sam. This is good for you. Six is going to teach you how to fight a Mogadorians, just do what she says man," I put in. I do feel sorry for him, but this is important. I may not completely agree with Six's methods of teaching, but she gets the job done, that's for sure. We are in our lounge, and Six is 'attempting' to train Sam in hand-to-hand combat. I never want Sam in that situation where he has to fight a Mogadorian up close, but I do want him prepared just in case.

Sam steps forward again, and Six hands him her switchblade. He takes it, tossing it from one hand to the other with a smile.

"Okay, first, that's not how you hold that." Six turns the knife around so the blade is facing downwards. "That way you can punch and slice in one movement." She motions the movement with Sam's hand through the air. "Kind of crouch into it, use your hips, put some force behind it." She get's behind him, moving his body with her hands. I catch Sam's face and crack up. He was absolutely loving this.

Six circles around to his front again. "You want to go for the throat and the heart with the Mogs. Think of them as doofy rhinos."

"That's reassuring," Sam mumbles under his breath.

"You always want to go for the kill shot. You can stab a Mog a hundred times and he'll keep fighting. You want to get the heart…" she taps Sam on the chest, her hand moving up. "The throat, and the forehead."

"Got it."

"You can't let them get a hand around you, because as soon as they do, it's over. They'll crush your throat in one move, slam you to the ground with enough force to shatter your bones, make you…"

"I got it, got it, you've given me a nice visual to go to sleep with. No touchy with the Mogs. Next?"

Six smiled at him, stepping back. "Mog's are slow, but they're powerful. You need to be fast, you need to be able to dodge their movements. More then that, you have to be able to _read_ their movements. You watch where their weight is on their feet, to see where they are going to swing."

"So I have to watch their _feet_ when I fight?"

I shake my head. "No. You have to watch everything. Their eyes, their arms, their legs, feet, hands, every single thing about them."

"Well, that sound's easy enough," Sam says sarcastically.

Six tosses him some boxing gloves, and puts punching pads on her own hands. "Alright, try and punch me."

"Why do you insist that I hit you all the time?"

"Because I know you won't be able to," she tilts her head slyly, lifting up her hands. "Come on, hit me."

Sam crosses his arms, shaking his head. "I'm not going to hit you, Six."

I stand up, taking the punching pads from Six's frustrated hands, and take her place opposite Sam. I strap them on, and swing my right arm, hitting Sam lightly on his shoulder. "You might have a problem hitting a girl, noble of you. Punch me."

"You Loriens are weird," Sam states.

"We're trying to help you," Six throws her hands in the air in aggravation. "Why can't you get that into your puny little brain, Sam! If you can't hit us, how the hell are you going to fight a Mog."

"Hey, I killed a Mogadorian, remember?"

"I remember," I say. "Sarah said you were in the middle of swearing and shot him while tripping up. I think her exact words were 'Biggest fluke that saved my life'."

"It wasn't a fluke. It was my cat-like reflexes honed through hours of playing Halo."

"You're a good shot, Sam." Six admits reluctantly. "But when a Mogadorian is standing a foot in front of you, reaching for you, you need to be able to defend yourself."

"Lets get real for a second," Sam says. "If a Mogadorian and I get into a hand to hand fight, I'm going to get my ass kicked anyway. I don't have super strength or speed, or invisibility powers. I'm a lanky guy with little muscle strength. If the captain of the football team could beat the crap out of me, what chance do I have against a 7 foot tall Mog? I get why you guys want to teach this to me, and I'll learn it, I'll do anything you want me to do. But when push comes to shove, I'm going to die if I have to fight a Mog with my hands, simple as that."

"That's not true," I say immediately. "Henri didn't have any superpowers, and he fought the Mogadorians off." I walk over to Sam, putting my hand on his shoulder. "You need to do this, Sam. And I promise you, you can fight a Mog off with your bare hands, and you will win."

Six watches the exchange between the two guys curiously, wondering if John's words will work. Number Four generally had a good way with words, able to convince her to do things she would have thought absolutely stupid and irrelevant. She smiles when Sam starts strapping the boxing gloves to his hands.

'This is going to be fun,' she thinks with a grin that rivals the Chesire Cat.

_**Paradise, Ohio**_

Sarah Hart had gotten somewhat used to feeling empty now. 10 months of an aching heart, with the pain showing no sign of letting up. She tried to go back to how things were before John, she really did. Since Mark wasn't a psycho or an ass, things at school were better. He was the only person in Paradise she could talk to about her pain. And he was as understanding as an ex-boyfriend could be, she guessed. She'd been to a few parties, usually ending up sitting outside, looking at the night sky.

They offered her the head cheerleader position, but she didn't take it. She wasn't really in a cheery mood anymore. After everything that she went through with John, things kind of got put into perspective. The title of head cheerleader might appeal to every other girl at her high school, but it held no weight to her anymore.

Her old friends had started hanging out with her again, and their company was nice in its own way. She could fool them easily into thinking she was a happy, well-balanced girl.

One person she couldn't fool was her mother.

Melissa Hart was convinced that John Smith was a terrible, bad boy who broke her daughter's heart by leading her on. It couldn't be futher from the truth, and Sarah hated hearing bad things be said about John, but it wasn't like she could tell her mother the truth or anything.

She still did photography, spending hours walking around the streets, capturing any moment she could. It was one of the only things that made her happy. She also spent a lot of time in the dark room at the highschool, one of the few classrooms that wasn't destroyed in that freak explosion at school. Military experiment gone wrong was the running theory at the moment to explain the enormous amount of damage the highschool had taken in the fight against the Mogadorians.

John Smith had changed her life. She wasn't being a dramatic teenager about it.

Before he came to school, she didn't even believe in aliens. Sci-Fi, UFO's, life in outer space, all that stuff, were on par with fairies and goblins in her book. It was ironic the first boy she ever loved turned out to be something she didn't even believe in. He was an alien.

It was funny how little that knowledge affected her. So what if John was an alien? He still saved her life, promised to love her forever, made her feel like she was flying when they kissed. He was the guy she loved, she couldn't care less that they weren't the same species.

She walked into her room, looking forlorn at the corner by her bed where they'd had their first real talk. He got her straight away, understood her even when her own parents couldn't. It wouldn't be a lie if she said that was when she'd fallen for him.

A Lorien… she thinks that's what they were called. They could only love once, John had told her. Once, and it lasted forever. He was stuck to her, monogamy was in his build. Humans could do anything they wanted, love for a week, love for a lifetime, even love more partners then one at a time.

But that wasn't going to happen with her, she knew it from the moment they kissed goodbye. It didn't matter that humans didn't have some deep meaningful love connection like aliens, she was going to love John for the rest of her life, whether she saw him again or not..

She knew he was getting hunted, and she had a first-hand account of just how dangerous the race of beings chasing him are. It made Sarah scared everyday, knowing that if she didn't get a text from him, it could be because he was dead.

Being apart was getting to her, getting to them both. They tried to text and call as much as they could, but they were like bandaids for bullet wounds. They had a fight last week. She'd accused him of being selfish leaving her behind, and if he really loved her, he wouldn't be hurting her like this. It was a cheap-shot. She knew, afterall, it was _because_ he loved her that he left her. But she snapped. He was in the middle of yelling when the line cut out. She tried calling and texting back, but got no reply. She'd been a wreck ever since.

Her phone buzzed, she looked at the screen. _Unknown Caller._

_**London, England**_

It's late, or early depending on how you looked at it. 2am, and I'm still tossing and turning. I can't sleep, I'm feeling uneasy. Something about training Sam up had me on edge, I don't know why. I end up getting out of bed and heading up to the roof, pulling my new mobile from the pocket of my jeans. It had a new sim, new number, safe enough to call on. It had been a week since I'd last talked to Sarah. I didn't really know how to deal with our arguing. I prayed she had forgiven me for what I'd said to her last time.

"_Hello, John?"_

Hearing her voice brings a wave of emotion, and for a while all I can do is hold the phone to my ear with my eyes shut as I fight off the tears that threaten to break through.

"_Are you alright?"_

I choke out a word, Yes, and slide into a sitting position with my back to the wall. "I miss you, Sarah, God I miss you."

"_I'm glad to hear that. We haven't talked since the argument last week. I tried calling and texting you, what happened?"_

"I know. I'm sorry I yelled at you, I ah, I accidently crushed my phone to pieces."

"_John, you don't have to apoligize. If anything, I should be apoligizing to you. I mean, you've got the weight of the world on your shoulders, literally. You shouldn't have to put up with a needy girlfriend aswell."_

I smile when she says that. She was my girlfriend. She was mine. I feel relief, and we spend a few moments in silence, just listening to each other breathe on the other end of the line.

"_But you have to promise me, no matter what happens, that you don't let another week go by without letting me know you're alright. I mean, how would you feel if you texted me and didn't hear back?"_

"I know," I sigh, leaning my head against the wall and shutting my eyes tiredly. "This whole long-distance-different-species relationship thing is hard. I don't like being apart from you, Sarah."

On the other end of the line, Sarah revels in how amazing hearing his voice makes her feel. _"How's Sam?"_

I smile. "He's doing good. Holding his own against us bunch of aliens."

"_Have you… ran into any of those other aliens. The bad ones?"_

I swallow, taking a deep breath. "Not yet. We've been pretty lucky I guess." I hear her moan loudly.

"_Paradise hasn't been as fun since you left, I went to the movies with Mark and some of my old friends the other night, but I just… whatever I do, I want you there with my, you know? Anything else just feels like a cheap reminder of how happy I was."_

"Believe me, I know."

"_But I guess you're going to leave me stranded in Paradise, Ohio."_

I smile. "Believe me, you're destined for bigger things then Paradise, Sarah."

"_Oh really?"_

"Yeah, don't you know? I can tell the future, one of the many powers I possess."

"_Ha. Okay, what's my future?"_

I laugh, and play along. "Well, you'll graduate with full honors from college, with a degree in photography,"

"_Of course,"_ I can hear her lips curve into a smile.

"Then you'll travel the world, Africa, India, Turkey, taking pictures, documenting your amazing life. Then you'll settle down, meet a handsome guy in a principals office and be swept off your feet."

"_What's the guys name?" _she teases.

"John Smith. At first you're a bit skeptical, but then you see there's more to him then meets the eye," I think back to our first meeting, the first time I ever saw her. She was the most stunning girl I had ever seen before in my life, it almost hypnotised me. "You break down all the walls he's set up to protect himself, because he just can't resist you when you smile. When you look at him, his heart will beat a thousand times a minute. When you stroke his face, he'll feel like he's flying." I pause as my words bring up the memories we share. "How'd I do?"

"_I think you gave me too much credit."_

"What do you mean?"

"_Well, I've affected this guy in so many ways but I didn't get the chance to tell him what he's done to me."_

"What did he do to you?"

"_He opened my eyes, showed me a world and life so much bigger then anything I'd have achieved without him. He saved my life, and in doing so, he'd given me a reason to live, and to be happy. And when he smiles at me, I feel like fainting. And when he looks at me with his eyes so full of emotion, I will do anything for him, to make him happy_." I'm soaring as I listen to her words. _"And when I kiss him, I know that he's the only man I'll ever want to kiss again."_

I smile as she finishes, holding the phone tight to my ear.

"_What do you think?"_

"I think I'm going to have to track this John Smith guy down and tell him to lay off. Sarah Hart is mine. Forever."

_AN: Another chapter down, let me know what you guys think. It helps me update faster, lol. And hit me with any ideas on what you want to happen. _


	6. Chapter 6

_AN: Hey guys. Sorry for the late update, suffered a major bout of writers block, grrr! Still, thanks for all the reviews. Let me know what you think._

**CHAPTER FIVE**

Henri told me that nine Loriens were sent to Earth. He was wrong.

There had been a tenth. Six and I both felt it when we used the tracking stone, it was one of the reasons we were both so shocked afterward. There was a Number Ten living on Earth, somewhere in Mexico at the moment. We didn't know why the Cepan's felt the need to keep it secret from us. From as far back as I can remember Henri would talk about the Lorien Nine, the last remaining members of the Garde. There was no one else, he used to tell me.

Maybe he didn't know Number Ten existed. It was a possibility, I guess. But something still wasn't adding up.

I remember back when I inherited my first Legacy, and I had my visions of the destruction of Lorien, there had been a second ship that had taken off, one that ran on fuel, a clunky misshapen thing compared to the streamlined one that carried the Lorien Nine to Earth.

Henri swore that he knew nothing about it, but if one did take off, he said maybe it had been full of Chimera, and it didn't make it to earth. Something about how he spoke had me curious, like he was trying a bit too hard to feign ignorance. At the time, I didn't think to push the matter.

Six had told me she had the same vision, the old metal ship that had taken off just after our's did. It couldn't be a coincidence that both of us saw the same thing. There had to be some significance between this ship and the mysterious Number Ten.

Maybe Number Ten was aboard that second ship as it took off. That didn't make any sense though, why hadn't the Loriens just put him or her on our ship?

Six's Cepan Katerina had denied any knowledge of the second ship as well, Six had told me.

I suppose the mystery would reveal itself eventually, since I was determined to bring _all_ the Lorien's together. It would take every one of us to beat the Mogadorians, who were hell-bent on taking over Earth as they did Lorien, so we continued our search despite finding no clues to lead us to Number 5.

Six and Sam were at the mall today, scouting out for Number 5, and Bernie and I had headed to the park. The grass was still wet from the evening rain, dampening the bottom of my jeans as I made my way around the park grounds. It was pretty full at mid-day, and I made it a point to catch as many people's eyes as I could.

I wasn't exactly sure what I was looking for. Hopefully I would feel the same connection I had with Six, that instant unspoken trust. Maybe there was something in our bodies' make-up that reacted when a Lorien was nearby. Our parents and grandparents had to have made a way for us to find each other, to recognize one another.

When Six and I had used the tracking stone, it was like we _knew_ where the others were, could feel their presence grow stronger in certain places. But we didn't see their faces, and had no idea what to look for. The stones were a huge help, but the job of searching the others out was still an immense task, one that was putting our patience to the test.

20 minutes of aimless wandering and I began to get restless. This searching felt hopeless, I didn't even know if Number Five was a guy or a girl. And people were starting to look at me funny for staring at them. Bernie had his nose glued to the ground, shuffling through bushes and shrubs, looking up with his front paw raised every so often, and dropping it back down again.

"_Do Loriens smell different to humans?" _I ask him telepathically.

"_Yes_" comes his simple reply.

"_So you could find a Lorien through scent?"_

"_Yes. But I have not picked up any scent at all yet. I will keep trying.'_

I bend down, scratching my pet behind his ear, thanking my grandparents for sending him with me to Earth. I see an empty park bench, and walk over, taking a seat. The sun peeks through the clouds, and I take the moment to lean my head back, letting its warm rays touch my face, breathing deeply.

Earth was an amazing planet. If they truly tried, humans could turn this earth into a Paradise, just like the Loriens had with their home planet. I hoped humans wouldn't destroy their world like the Mogadorians had, otherwise all this searching, this fighting we were doing would all be for nothing anyway.

"You're not from around here, are you?"

My heart instantly skips into double time in fear over this statement, and I open my eyes and turn to the female voice that spoke. She's short, with straight brunette hair that falls just passed her shoulders. She's got big hazel eyes, which at the moment are fixed right on my face as she waits for a reply.

I can't lie to her, after all, my English accent still left much to be desired.

"No. I grew up in America," I say rather awkwardly.

She smiles, and I relax a little. She could hardly be a Mogadorian in disguise, she was barely half as tall as them.

"I thought so. I've been coming to this park since I was 3, almost everyday. You get to recognize strangers pretty quickly." She takes a seat beside me, and I realize with a start there is a camera in her hands. It brings back a sharp jolt of memories, and I shove my hands deep into my jacket pockets, squeezing them into fists.

"You're a photographer?" I ask, trying to remain normal despite the anguish that starts thudding away in my chest with every heartbeat.

"Yes. Been in love with it since I can remember." The girl sees Bernie at my feet, and she immediately lights up. "Oh, he's so adorable!" she leans over, patting him. Bernie soaks the attention up, looking up at me with smug eyes.

"Yeah, most of the time."

She straightens back up into sitting position, brushing back her loose hair behind her ears. "I'm Alice." I shake her offered hand.

"Uh… John."

"Nice to meet you John," she says. "You're hands are really warm." I kind of panic for a second until I realize she hadn't seemed to notice anything odd about my higher body temperature, it was more like she was stating a fact. I'm clearly suffering from paranoia, and tell myself to calm down. "Living in London my whole life, I'm used to shaking people's hands and finding them ice cold. Or they're wearing gloves. One or the other."

I smile, but I still find my eyes drawn to the camera in her hands. Straight away, Sarah fades into my vision, her camera in her hands and she snaps pictures of me. The sun setting, her face almost illuminated. The memories come in waves, her laughing, tucking hair behind her ear, reaching for my hand, kissing my lips, wrapped in my arms. I have to physically shake myself back to reality.

"I was on my way to this little coffeehouse about 2 blocks down the street. They make the _best_ espressos in London, take it from a local. Do you want to come?"

I swallow. "I'm kind of meeting somebody here."

"Oh…" Alice gives me a small smile. "No worries. Maybe I'll see you another time, John."

"Yeah, maybe."

She heads away with a small wave. She was quite attractive, seemed nice, had a cute smile, but everything about her just reminded me of the girl I'd left behind. It was probably going to be like that with every other girl in the world. They would always be second best to Sarah Hart.

I get to my feet. "Come on, boy. There's nothing here for us." As I make my way back to the apartment, I know what I have to do. Being apart was too hard now, it had been almost a year. I was going back to Paradise. I was going to see Sarah.

_**Paradise, Ohio**_

"Sarah, wait up!"

Sarah pauses in the corridor of school as Mark comes running over. He's just come back from football practice, and he's covered in grass stains and dirt, still wearing his jersey with the number 16 on it. She remembered back when they were dating, and she had been completely delusional, she'd considered getting the number tattooed on her back. She thanks her lucky stars she didn't get _that _done. "What's up?" she asks him when he reaches her.

"I wanted to know if you wanted to go to the carnival with me on Saturday? In a completely friends kind of way, not a date."

Right, the carnival. She had purposely put the whole event out of her mind. The woman who arranged it, Ms. Reynolds had been hell-bent on tracking her down to do the photos for the local paper. Sarah had done the photo's two years running now, and she wasn't too keen on doing it again. Sarah had been dodging the woman every chance she could, and had succeeded so far.

She continues to head down the hall, and Mark follows her through the heavy double doors out to the car park. Across the quad, the final refurbishments to the new bleachers were being finished, after a year of rebuilding after the freak explosion. "I wasn't planning on going to the carnival actually." She tells him.

"Got other plans?" Mark asks, although he knows she doesn't. Paradise isn't exactly Las Vegas, there are generally few activities for people to do. Carnivals and dances were a big deal in a small town.

"Not really. It's just, rides and shows and carnivals don't interest me as much anymore, I think I can pass," she stops when she reaches her car, leaning against the bonnet. "Besides, they kind of bring back bad memories."

He nods. He couldn't believe what an idiot he had been at the spring carnival show last year. John straightened him out pretty quickly after that. He and half the football team. Mark was still a little sketchy on the details of who or what exactly John Smith was, but he did know that John had saved his life, and possibly the lives of many residents in Paradise when he destroyed those nasty monsters. Mark's father had been in hospital for 3 weeks after that _thing_ attacked him. Basically, in Mark's book, an enemy of an enemy is a friend.

"I just thought it'd be a bit of fun for us. It's been almost a year since… well, everything. We should both try and regain some normalcy, you know." He rose his voice at the end of the sentence in a questioning way. Sarah didn't reply, her eyes facing forward.

"Look Sarah, I know that you're upset about the whole thing with John," he watched as she turned her face to the side, her eyes already glassy and her cheeks red. "But hiding away and ignoring all your friends isn't the way you should handle it."

She looks at him, her eyes burning with anger. "How am I supposed to handle it, Mark? Take a page out of your book and bully people, beat them up, and act like a total ass?"

"I understand what you're going through…"

"You have no_ idea_ what I'm going through," she cuts in, and for the first time, Mark realizes that Sarah is not only upset, border lining depression, she's furious beyond words. "The guy that I love more then anything or anyone in the entire world is being hunted and there is _nothing_ that I can do for him. I can't even be with him because he won't let me. I'm stuck here is Paradise, friggin' Ohio!"

"Sarah…"

"Don't! Don't say 'it's going to be alright' or 'it's not that bad'. Because they're both lies, Mark." She looks down at the gravel beneath her. She tries not to lose it in front of him, and she takes a few calming breaths, regaining her composure. Sarah looks up the student around her. They are smiling, laughing, talking about the upcoming show, about what they're going to wear and who they want to ask. "I hate this place," she says under her breath. "All these people that have no idea what's going on..."

"It's not their fault," Mark says quietly. "You can't judge people on their ignorance, Sarah. It's not right, and it's not fair."

"I know," she drops her face into her hands. "I'm sorry if I'm being a bitch… I am being a bitch aren't I?"

"Hey, you've got your reasons," Mark smiles. "John's changed you."

"He has."

They both stand in relative silence for a long moment, lost in their own thoughts.

"I know you're dealing with a lot of crap at the moment, but I think this carnival will be good for you. You can take photos of people mid-ride pulling really weird faces and then write awkward captions about them, you love doing that." She laughs, shaking her head as Mark recounted some of the older ones. "We don't have to dance or go on rides or anything. But it'll get you out of the house. And I'll be there for you, every step on the way."

Sarah stands there, thinking over his words. She supposed it wouldn't be too bad. Okay, it would be bad, but it'll be a tolerable bad, easing slowly into life as opposed to shutting it off completely. "Alright."

"Alright?" Mark raises his eyebrows in surprise.

"Alright." She smiled, her first real smile in months.

_**London, England**_

"I can't believe you've never seen 'The Breakfast Club! John Hughes, Molly Ringwald, they're the ultimate chick-flick duo! This movie single-handedly paved the way for teenage flicks for years to come," Sam held the DVD up in his hand, genuine shock on his face. "It's a classic."

Six looked over to the 5 teenagers on the cover, and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I guess I could have made time in my busy schedule of being hunted through my childhood to watch a few classic movies." She said sarcastically, before adding, "it's got a redhead in it. I don't like redheads."

"Why not?"

"I had a bad experience with red hair dye back when I was in a primary school in California. Katerina didn't do the mix properly and my hair came out orange. I endured weeks of being called 'carrot top' before I convinced Katerina if we didn't move, I'd save the Mogs a job and kill myself."

"I can imagine you being such a cherry little girl," Sam grins as he put the movie back and continues flicking through the saving bin. He and Six were in the mall, searching discreetly for Number Five. They usually picked a different area everyday to search through. John and Bernie were walking the main park today. It was a long shot, but it was better then sitting around the cramped apartment all day. They were all jumping down each other's throats, and needed to get out.

Sam didn't really mind, he enjoyed his outings with Six. Even though she spent most of the time being sarcastic or mean to him, he'd figured out by now she didn't mean half the things she said.

He dug through the pile, pulling out another case. "What about 'Singing In The Rain?' he asked. She looked over at him with a high eyebrow as he broke into song and dance. _"Make him laugh, make him laugh, make him laugh!_"

She did laugh, and as Sam watched her hazel eyes light up, her lips curve, he could care less that she was laughing at him. He'd live the rest of his life as a clown if it meant he could make her smile like that.

"I haven't seen that one. But I kind of want to now, just to see what the hell you're on about." Six scanned through the shop, but nobody really stood out to her. She was getting frustrated. After she and John had used that tracking stone back in Ohio, she had honestly thought finding the others would have been a walk in the park. Use the stone, get the Loriens together, and fight!

Five was in London, they knew that. How hard could it be to find a Lorien in London?

It was turning out to be impossible. Staying in one place for longer then a week made her uneasy. They had been in London for three months now, and her anxiety levels were all over the place. She pulled her phone from her jacket pocket. "I'm going to call John, see if he's found anything."

"Uh, I think he'd call if he found Five," Sam said. "I'd say that classifies as pretty big news worthy of a phone call."

"Well, standing around watching you reenact scenes from movies isn't exactly productive to our search, is it?"

Sam shrugged. "How about we go eat?"

"I'm not hungry," Six dismissed quickly.

"Well, I am. C'mon!" He took hold of her hand, dragging her from the store towards the food court.

Six allowed herself to be pulled along by him. She'd gotten used to Sam's quirks, his personality, his jokes. His ability to eat like an elephant and still maintain that lanky skinny frame of his. She was glad he was along for this crazy ride they were on. For the first month, she was adamant that Sam would be a liability. She can't even remember the amount of times she had tried to convince John to leave Sam behind at whatever motel or backpackers they were staying in, do a runner in the dead of night. It would be safer for him, she would say.

Like she really cared about his safety back then. She had one goal, and one goal only. Find the Mogadorians, and kill them. She didn't want friends.

John refused her every time, telling her calmly and coolly that Sam was one of them and he wasn't going anywhere. If Six couldn't handle it, then she could leave anytime. John knew she never would. She was stuck with them both.

It infuriated her at first, and then it wasn't too bad.

Now, she couldn't imagine _not_ seeing Sam everyday, listen to him as he talked for hours about some video game that was coming out, or a movie trailer he'd just seen about fighting robots. In an odd way, Sam made Six feel normal, more human, a feeling, she realized in shock, she didn't mind at all. For the first time in her entire life, she had actually begun _living_, and she liked it.

Sure, she still chewed him out once in a while when moods ran high, called him wimpy or slow, said she'd shank his eye with a fork or throw him out the window, but he just took it in his stride, nodded his head, and smiled.

She was growing quite partial to his smile.

Six tuned Sam back in, he'd been animatedly talking for the past 5 minutes now. "…and they've found this way to enter people's minds while they are asleep and steal information from them. Because, you know, the people's subconscious is vulnerable to attack when they're asleep."

"What are you on about?" Six asked, taking one of the fries off Sam's plate and popping it in her mouth.

"Inception. This new movie that's come out. We should go see it sometime, me and you."

"Unless Number 5 is acting in it, I'm not interested."

Sam shrugged, nonchalant. "He could be. We have no idea what he looks like, right? Number 5 could be Leonardo Di-Caprio. Or Ellen Page. Oooh, that would be pretty cool, fighting off aliens with Juno."

Six could only shake her head, smiling as Sam ranted on.

He wasn't too bad a company after all.


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER SIX**

I like running.

The rush of adrenaline that hits me as my feet pound on the ground like a drum, the heat that surges through my lungs as I breathe in and out, the burn of my muscles as I push myself further and harder. Of all the training Henri had forced on me growing up, running was one I was happy to do. When I was running, I was free.

I could never go as fast as I wanted to around London, I'd imagine someone would be a little curious as to how that guy's clocking 60kh on foot. But I still ran when I could. Being fit and healthy was vital to our survival. Plus, getting killed by a Mogadorian because you hadn't kept up your cardio fitness would just be a pathetic way to go, I smile. Henri used to say that when he was encouraging me to work out.

When I think of Henri, I get this dull empty feeling in my chest. I missed him terribly, and it wasn't like I could visit him like I could Sarah. My Cepan gave his life for me without hesitation, and I truly hoped I could live up to the expectation he had of me. I wanted to win this war for Henri.

Six and Sam are in the apartment when Bernie and I get home from the park. I gather from the shut bathroom door and the water running, that Six is in the shower. Sam is sprawled out on the couch, lying on his back with the remote on his chest. The TV is off, and he was staring blank-faced out of the window at nothing, the utter depiction of someone bored out of their mind.

"Find anything?" I ask him as I take off my grey sweater and drop it onto the kitchen bench.

"No… Oh wait, yeah, we found Number Five, that's right, my bad." He replied in a monotone.

"Oh you did, that's fantastic," I reply in an equally sarcastic tone. I open our small fridge and take out a bottled water, surveying the contents in the shelves as I do. It was pretty slim pickings. There were a few forgotten vegetables, and a plate of _something _I gather was once food but now Bernie would probably turn his nose up too. And I saw Bernie eating out of the trash the other day.

MM's was really the only constant thing we ever had, and I pour a handful from the giant packet sitting in there. "I met a girl at the park today."

Sam's head picks up in interest. "Oh really?"

"Yeah," I close the fridge and lean with my back against the counter as I crunch down on the chocolates. "She was sweet and smart and pretty and all I could think about was Sarah," I look down at my feet as I say, "I'm going to see her."

Sam sits up completely now, fixing me a stare. "Instead of _visiting _her, why don't you just go and _get_ her, and bring her back here?" I go to protest, but he holds up a hand and continues, "I mean, I get why you don't want to, because of the whole aliens-at-war danger factor, but I'm not gonna lie to you John… or at least, I'm not going to lie to you anymore. You're like a zombie and I bet she's not doing much better. And, taking the serious risk factor in what we're doing into consideration, we could pretty much all die any second! Don't you want to spend as much time with her as possible?"

"Yes, more then anything else. But _my_ head is the one on the chopping board, not hers. If I go back to Paradise and bring her back with me, I'm painting a target for the Mogadorians on her back. I mean, I feel bad enough with _you _being in danger. What kind of guy puts his girlfriends life in jeopardy just to wake up with her every morning?" I'm gripping the bottle tightly, and I take a few breaths to calm down. "We're safer apart, even though it sucks. You know, Henri had it right, attachments just make everything harder."

"Yeah, I get what you're saying, but if she's here then…" Sam's sentence ends abruptly as the bathroom door opens, a cloud of warm steam wafting out as Six walks from the bathroom to her bedroom wrapped in only a towel. Sam's eyes follow her like magnets, and his mouth hangs open as he watched the water drip down the curve of her shoulder to her back like it moving in slow motion. When her door is shut, I drop to his side.

"Sam, dude, Sam!" I finally get a reaction when I snap my fingers in front of his face.

"I think I'm in love," he sighs in an almost whimsical way. I laugh.

"You've got a crush on Six because she walks around _way_ too much in a towel."

Sam shakes his head vigorously at me. "No, really, I think I'm in love with her, man. I think about her all the time, like every single second."

"I'm glad your minds on our mission," I say.

"Do you think she likes me?" he demands, ignoring my last sentence.

I give him a half-shrug. "Of course she likes you."

"No, do you think she likes me, likes me. I'm so into her, it's crazy and she's…" he pauses, thinking over his words carefully, "well, she's not exactly the most affectionate cuddly girl around."

I look at him as he speaks, and I can tell his telling the truth. Sam was my best friend, I would hate to see him get hurt in any way, but Six didn't strike me as somebody who was after an actual relationship with somebody. She gave me enough crap about Sarah to know that. "Honestly," I say, "I think Six is determined to get this war over with before she lets anyone get close to her."

"But you're just as keen to end this war as she is, and you fell in love."

"I don't really think I'm a good example, Sam. Like you said, I'm a zombie. Besides, as much as I'd like to say I'm 100% focused on this war, I'm not. Not really. Sarah's always in the back of my mind, you know, I am constantly thinking about whether she is safe, or whether something has happened to her. Being in a relationship with somebody while we're doing what we are… it's dangerous, and painful too. It's good, but there's _a lot_ of bad that goes along with it. I'm not saying you shouldn't give it a shot, Sam. But just… don't take it personally if Six shuts you down."

"Oh, I won't, believe me." He pauses, looking at Six's shut bedroom door for a moment, before asking, "how long are you visiting Sarah for?"

"I don't know. Not more then a few days, I can't risk giving the Mogadorians any chance to track me down, plus Sarah can't disappear for too long. I'm pretty sure her parents hate me already by now, them and half of Paradise. I'm a terrorist, remember?" I smile. "They've probably blamed me and Henri for the damage to the school too."

"That's right," Sam nods. "How are you going to find Sarah in a town that think's you're a criminal?"

"Well, it's been a year. Plus, I'm not a blond anymore," I rub my dark brown hair for emphasis. "I'm a bit taller, probably have a different muscle build to before. If I keep my head down, and move fast, stay out of the populated areas as much as I can, I'm pretty sure I'll be able to get in there, find Sarah and leave before anyone even notices me."

"You better hope so. The last thing we need is for you to pop up on the 6 o'clock news."

"It's not going to happen, Sam. Trust me."

I make a start at packing up my stuff, which doesn't take long considering how few things I own now. It all fits into my backpack, and it kind of makes me depressed. What I wouldn't give to have grown up in a stable home! I remember the first time I saw Sarah's home, she had been confused as to why I stood there for so long, taking it in. Being a Lorien was amazing, and being part of something so important was a privilege for us. But it didn't stop me from wishing every once in a while for a different life.

I would have been happy in Ohio, heading to school everyday, being part of a community. I tell myself that it can still happen, but I'm not very convincing.

I wonder whether I should let Sarah know I'm coming, or just turn up and surprise her. Sam tells me maybe I better just turn up, in case something happens that stops me from visiting, and she gets her hopes up only to be disappointed. It's a good point.

It's not too big a risk, me leaving. I put it off for as long as I could only because I know how damn hard it will be leaving Sarah for a second time. I wanted to put as much effort into this search as I could, my people deserved it. But enough is enough, a year apart is all I can manage without physically breaking down.

I trust Six to watch over Sam and make sure nothing happens to him while I'm gone. She's more then capable, but I'm leaving Bernie behind just in case something does happen.

It takes about 10 minutes to pack up all my gear, and book a plane ticket online.

We always have cash stored at our apartment, and I dig out enough to cover my ticket and purchase some cheap form of transportation when I land. Buying vehicles is always safer then renting. Easier too. I've found when you offer somebody cash they generally don't ask any questions.

Six comes out of the bedroom, dressed in jeans and long white singlet, her favorite leather jacket over the top. "I'm going out."

"Again?" Sam asks. "We just got back in. You've been going out every night for a while now, where do you go?"

"Out," comes Six's reply. She pulls on her boots, waving her phone at me so I know she's got it, and heads away without another word.

"Can you feel the love?" Sam asks me.

I give him a shrug, before getting to my feet. "Come on. We've got some time to kill, I'm not going until she gets back anyway. We should do some training."

"Great. I love training." He gets up, walking to the corner where we keep our the boxing gloves. "Almost as much as I love getting kicked in the nuts."

""""""""""""""""

Six wandered down the cobblestone street, enjoying one of the rare sunny afternoons they've had since coming to London. She stopped by a street seller and bought an apple, moving on. A chilled wind blew brisk, and she tightened her jacket around herself.

She was heading to the Library again.

It's where she went almost every afternoon. Not for the love of books of course, she'd never cared much for reading.

She went because of the librarian working behind the information counter. It was a guy, couldn't be older then 20. She's spotted him one day about a week ago, leaving a record store, and she had tailed him, keeping herself invisible of course. He worked at the library every afternoon.

She didn't have some school girl crush on him, though she had to admit he wasn't _entirely_ awful to look at, with deep brown hair and eyes to match, a fair dusting of stubble covering his jaw and chin.

Okay, so maybe she did kind of like him.

But there was something else that drew her to him. Katerina had told her that the surviving Loriens would share a bond, one that couldn't be explained, only felt. When Six entered the high school in Paradise, she knew the moment she saw John that he was Number Four. She didn't know how she knew, he looked no different from anyone else.

She just _felt_ it.

And spending this time together only strengthened that attachment. They shared a trust, something that was inbuilt in them.

This young librarian drew her in much the same way. There was something about him that had her a little bit curious. Granted, the chances that he turned out to be a Lorien were slim… well, pretty much non-existent. That's why she hadn't told John or Sam about him yet. No point in getting their hopes up if this all turns out to be nothing.

But they knew that Number 5 was in London. This lead was better then nothing.

She walked through the revolving glass doors into the library. It was an old red brick building that smelt as musty and aged as the books inside. Glad to be out of the wind, she slid out of her jacket, tucking it beneath her arm and heading towards to aisle 3. She had quickly discovered it was the best one to watch the stranger without him noticing her. It also gave her a good view of her surroundings in case she needed to make a quick escape.

That was one thing Katerina had always grilled her on. _Always have an escape_, she had said, ever since Six could remember. _If you have an escape, there is always a chance_.

She took a heavy book from the shelf, something to do with Greek Mythology, and opened it. Every so often, she glanced down at the page before her, but spent the majority of time looking through the gap to the information desk.

He was there again today, sitting at the counter reading a book as thick as a brick. Every few minutes, he ran a hand through his hair, causing it to sit on end. He had strong arms, and he certainly wasn't a weak looking person. She tried to look for any discernable signs that could be clues. Was his hair dyed? No, it looked pretty natural. Did he have colored contact lenses in? She could hardly tell from this vantage point. His skin was tan, that could be a sign that he wasn't from around here, but it definitely wasn't a deciding factor.

She moved a little further to the left, the guy coming more clearly into view. He was reading a book on astronomy. Could that possibly be a clue? She shook her head in answer to her thought. Just because he was reading a book on the stars didn't mean he was an alien. After all, she couldn't have cared less about astronomy when she was in school.

Ideally, she would like to get a look at his right leg. If, for instance, he had 3 circular scars burnt up his calf muscle, that would be a pretty clear indication. Or a really big coincidence.

But he was wearing jeans, hiding any damning evidence.

The sky outside was darkening as dusk settled in, and the library was soon empty save for one or two people on the upper levels. Six hadn't moved much from her position, routinely turning a page or changing her book while her gaze remained on this library guy, waiting and hoping something would happen that would either prove him a Lorien, or prove that she had officially lost her mind. She was so over waiting, she'd take either option now.

Her eyes were fixed forward to the information desk, but Six never, ever ignored her surroundings.

A man behind her leapt forward, and Six rolled to the side a split second before he hit into her. He wasn't a Mogadorian, that much was evident from the beginning, he couldn't have been an inch taller then Sam. The man slammed into the bookshelf with an almighty _clang_, knocking books off their shelves and making one hell of a clatter. Six kicked in the back of his knees and he toppled. In one smooth movement, she pulled her switchblade from its place in her boot, flicking it open and holding it to the man's throat. She dropped to her knees, her arm hooking around the man's neck so the blade pressed tight to his skin. The fight was over in ten seconds. She turned invisible, the two disappearing in a wisp of blue smoke.

"Who are you?" she demanded in a rough whisper.

"Who are you?" he demanded straight back in a gruff voice, his hands clinging to her arm as he tried to pry her away. "I've been watching you everyday, girl. You come here and you watch Ben. What the hell are you up to? What do you know?"

"You're clearly new to this, so I'm going to talk _real_ slow," Six pressed her knife closer to his throat, the blade almost breaking the skin. "I'm the one with the knife, I ask the questions! So I'm going to ask again, who the hell are you?"

Before the man could answer, both he and Six were lifted bodily off the ground by a massive telekinetic wave, and she was thrown backwards, pinned against another bookshelf. Six lost concentration over her legacy, turning visible as her head hit the shelf behind her. The force jarred her neck, and her teeth slapped together. _Note to self_, she thought. _Mouth guard!_

The librarian, she guessed Ben, had his hand outstretched to her, holding her still against the shelf. Despite the current predicament she was in, dangling in mid-air, Six's excitement couldn't be quelled. _He's a Lorien_! She thought wildly. _Finally! _She almost laughed, finding it hard to believe it was true, she had seriously started having her doubts.

His telekinesis was strong, that much was certain. The damage his power had caused was immense. _Alright_, Six thought. _Time to play_. She threw out her hand, pulling forward the bookshelf behind the guy. It toppled on him and his hold over her disappeared as fell forward. As Six dropped to the ground, she immediately disappeared from sight, landing on her feet and rolling away.

The man that had first tackled her got up, holding a hand to his throat. "Show yourself!"

"I'm not here to fight you," she replied back, remaining unseen.

He scoffed, "The knife that was pressing to my neck two seconds ago says otherwise."

Ben emerged from beneath the bookshelf he had been under, a frown on his face. With a yell, he slammed a fist to the ground at his feet. A wave of force shot off around him in a huge circle, cracks snaking through the ground like an earthquake. Shelves toppled where they stood, books went flying. The walls crumbled, and plaster and bricks rained down from the roof.

'_Damn, this guy is good'_. It was the only thought that ran through Six's head before the wave of power hit her. She became visible immediately as she flipped through the air.

She was bracing herself for the no doubt painful crash into the wall that was coming her way, but before she reached it, Six came to a dead stop, hanging in midair facing the two men before her.

She kicked her legs about, but his hold over remained strong. The two men moved closer, stepping over fallen shelves and book trolleys, both staring at Six with curious eyes. "Who are you?" the older man demanded.

She fixed his glare with one of her own. "I'm Number 6."

Their curiosity quickly turned to shock, and Ben immediately dropped his hand, releasing his telekinetic hold on her. Six crashed onto the ground in a heap, knocking the wind from her lungs. "You could have given me a nicer landing," she mumbled.

The older man was the first to snap back into action after the shock of her identity. "You shouldn't be here, Six, the protective charm will break!" He walked over to her and helped Six to her feet. "I am Damien. I am Ben's Cepan."

"I figured."

"Where is your Capen?"

"Dead," Six replied simply. "The Mogs killed her." She brushed the rubble and dust off herself, and put a hand to the back of her neck, stretching a kink out while looking past Damien to Ben. "You're Number 5?"

"I am."

Hearing him say it seemed to bring Six to reality a little more. He was here. After months and months of searching, disappointment, arguing, fighting, Number 5 was standing right in front of her. He was taller up close, taller then John. He also had a long dark scar running from his right eye to midway down his cheek. "You're a Lorien."

"I've been looking for you for a long time," Six said.

"Not as long as I've been looking for you. You can call me Ben." He walked close, holding out a hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Ben, you can call me Six." She smiled as the two shook hands.

Damien stepped forward. "Let's get the hell out of here. The two of you have caused quite a stir already with your little fight. I'm sure the humans thought it was an earthquake, they took off the when the first bookshelf toppled. However, I doubt the Mogadorians will think that."

"The Mogs are here?" Six asked, her eyebrows raised high.

Ben nodded. "They've been in London for a day or two, haven't made any move to attack us. Damien didn't want to take them down yet, said he wanted to see what they were planning. They don't know who I am. Or if they do, they aren't planning on attacking me."

"Why would they? If the Mogs think the Charm is still in tact, attacking you will be irrelevant. They'll after Number Four. We've got to do everything we can to hide the fact you two are together! Mog's travel in groups of 10, usually scouts. But there are settlements, dozens and dozens of them all situated in different countries all over the earth. It's where they keep their beasts before they make an attack on one of you. As far as I can tell, it's only one group of about 6 or so that are in London, a few scouts and soldiers, no heavy weapons, just rifles. I don't want to take any chances though, now that I've got two of you to look out for."

"We've got to move," Six said. "If the Mogs are in London, they'll find my friends."

"Friends?"

"Number Four and me already had a run in with them. We wiped out a dozen or so including 2 of their _pets_ and a commando. Four used his Lumen to blow the Mog half way back to his home planet. I'd say they have a_ serious_ score to settle with him."

Ben didn't bother hiding his shock. "You're with Number Four? The Charm has been broken already?"

"Yeah. We've decided its time to find the others, and bring the fight to the Mogs once and for all. You interested?"

He gave her smile. "You have no idea how interested I am, beautiful."

Damien checked his watch. "Call you're friends, tell them to pack. I'm getting all of you out of London on the next flight out of here," Sirens blare closer, and a crowd is quickly forming outside, all peering in to see the damage. Damien turns to Six quickly. "Have you perfected your legacy?"

Six rose her eyebrow in question.

"You're invisibility. It was rare even on Lorien, I only knew two or three who could do it. But the ones who possessed it were able to make things they touched invisible too."

Six smiled. "Take my hands and find out."

The three figures disappeared in wisp of smoke just as the cops entered.


	8. Chapter 8

_AN: First off, thanks heaps for the reviews, awesomeness! I don't think that's a word but it should be! _

_I don't own Number Four. I know, shock : O_

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

I used to have this dream growing up. For a long time, I dreamt it every night. In my dream, I'm standing on this hill, looking out over a crystal clear ocean at a sunset. But this sunset wasn't like the ones I saw on earth. This one was unbelievably striking, with vibrant oranges and yellow dancing about like the sky was alight. There's a slight breeze blowing around me, but the air is warm, soft as it runs over my skin, blowing my hair around. I feel incredibly calm, at peace.

And then, the peace is broken.

The sky's beauty is broken as thousands of dark shapes come bursting through the atmosphere. My heart is racing as I watch the beautiful world around me crumble and burn. I know I'm dreaming, but it doesn't dull the pain. I hear screaming, and it's excruciating for me. I try to run, to help them, but I am not moving from my spot. All I can do is stand there as the ships fly in. And then I see Henri running towards me in the dream. He takes my hand, pulling me away. I feel safe with him here. But we barely run a meter before he is stabbed through the chest. Henri crumbles at my feet, and I stagger to my knees, sobbing uncontrollably.

This is how Henri found me in bed each night, my pillowcase dripping from tears and sweat, and my body shaking so hard that my teeth are chattering. He would need to sit there for hours, talking to me in his low firm voice. _It's just a dream_, he would tell me. _You can't get hurt in dreams, Four. No one can hurt you_. I would keep awake for as long as I could just to avoid seeing that destruction again. Eventually, as I grew older, I stopped having the dream. I always knew that is was a memory, imprinted deep into my mind but closed off as the brain does with most traumatic incidents that happen. Subconsciously, I guess I was trying to grasp the fact that every single member of my family, the home I grew up in and the people I knew before this life, were all destroyed. I can't begin to explain the torment I feel at that thought.

The night Henri died, I had the dream again.

In it, the same thing happened. My Cepan collapsed before me, blood pouring from his chest. I would sit up straight in my bed, and my pillow would be wet to the touch. There was no Henri to comfort me anymore. I don't know if I can handle the weight of everything, I don't know how I'm supposed to be the savior of mankind when I couldn't even save my Cepan. I have Sarah now, and I have Sam, and Number Six. I tell myself I'm not alone, everyday.

I look at myself in the mirror, and I barely recognize the person staring back. I don't know who I am without Henri. And I sure as hell don't know who I am without Sarah. My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I pull it out tiredly, reading the message. My exhaustion disappears immediately.

I burst out of the bathroom, almost snapping the door clean from its hinges. "Pack up Sam, we gotta go!"

"Huh, what?" Sam broke from his daze in front of his computer screen.

"Something's up. Six just sent me a text saying pack our bags and move. I figure she's either found Number 5, or the Mogadorians have found us." My stuff in already packed up, and I get started on Six's things, heading to her bedroom and stuffing her clothes into her duffel bag roughly. I'd prefer the first option, but luck has never really been on my side. It's just my luck something like this would happen the day I want to go see Sarah!

Sam is packing away his computer when I come out of the room. He walks to the window, pulling his charger from the power point beneath it. He glances out, and his hands pause on the cord. "Uh… John."

I recognized the tone in his words, and I run over to the window. I'd heard him say my name like that before; he'd uttered it exactly the same when… "Oh shit!"

"My sentiment's exactly."

Outside, on the footpath directly across from our building, stood 6 figures. Tall, unnaturally so, with heavy trench coats on. 3 of them had Mogadorian rifles, which shot beams of pure red energy. It melted whatever it touched, even my Lumen wasn't immune to the weapons power. The Mogadorians were here.

"How the hell did they find us!" I was wondering aloud. It didn't make any sense, we had laid low, and been paranoidly careful about leaving any thing that the Mog's might be able to track to this location.

Sam heads to the cupboard by the bathroom, pulling out the heavy metal case where Six keeps her array of weapons. Ordinarily, she gets absolutely livid if anyone touches it, but I think she'll make an exception this time. He tosses me a Lorien dagger, which lights up blue as I catch it, humming beneath my touch. I feel safer now with a weapon. Sam picks up Six's pistol, powering the weapon up. "I suddenly feel a lot safer," he smiles. Bernie is running around the apartment like a maniac, barking loudly and scratching at the window that lead to the fire escape.

I punch in Six's number as I move around the apartment, grabbing whatever odds and ends I could. "Pick up, Six. Pick up the damn phone!"

"_John?"_

"The Mogs have tracked the apartment down."

Six swore loudly. "_How many_?"

"I count 6. 2 scouts, 4 soldiers. They've got weapons, rifles, the same ones that had in Ohio."

"_Can you run_?"

"I'm sure as hell going to try. I'll jump roof. If they follow me, I'll try and draw the fight away from town. I'll aim for the park. Where are you?"

"_We're on our way_."

"We're?" Despite my current predicament, I felt a sense of joy.

"_I'm with Number 5, and Damien, his Cepan. I'll explain the details later. We'll try to meet you en route to the park. Keep Sam safe." _She hung up.

Sam stumbles to my side, stuttering through a sentence and pointing to the window frantically. "Uh John, hate to rush you but they're coming in!"

I threw my backpack on, tossing Sam a bag and kicking the window out with a smash. Glass flies everywhere, but I don't get cut at all. I was going to have to leave most of our stuff behind, including the cash and Six's bag. There wasn't enough time, and I couldn't carry it all and run. "Come on," I yell to them. Bernie leaps from the apartment, Sam quickly following and both scramble up the fire escape stairwell just as the first Mogadorian punches through our apartment door. This thing is _huge_. It fixes its eyes on me immediately, but I'm prepared for it. I take hold of him with my telekinesis, shoving him backwards forcefully. The soldier stumbles from sight with a gasp, and I can hear it crash away. I grab hold of our fridge and drop it in front of the door. At the most, it'll buy us a few seconds. We needed every second we could get.

Sam's almost at the top of the stairwell as I scale up quickly. We reach the roof at the same time, and we both stumble out of the stairwell onto the concrete roof. The buildings nearby join together for a decent while, so Sam and I both start running, jumping the small gaps from roof to roof with ease. All that training we had forced upon Sam was paying off. Bernie Kosar is ahead of us a fair bit, leading the way. '_If anything happens to me, keep Sam safe, _I tell him.

"_I will._"

Every few steps I glance back to see if the Mogadorians had followed us. They'd spent a year tracking me down, and I highly doubt they'd let me go so easily. I'm not disappointed. I see a heavy figure appear at the top of the stairs. It pulls its rifle from its holster when it spots us, and I instinctively hit the ground, pulling Sam down with me.

A beam of burning red heat misses us by an inch.

"That hurt," Sam wheezes out a breath.

He scrambles to his feet and runs forward but keeps his head down now. I power up my Lumen, shining it backwards to reveal the other Mogadorians were up now, the Six of them charging after us like rhinos. Alone, I might have been able to outrun them. But Sam didn't have a shot unless I stalled them somehow. I get to my feet, powering up my lights brighter and brighter, dodging a few ill-aimed shots with ease. "Okay Six, lets see if you're right." I raise my hands, focusing my Lumen on the foremost soldier. I can hear his yells of pain from here. His footsteps grow sluggish and falter as he tries to move out of my lights way. I follow him with my hands, but the others are nearing now.

_Time for plan B_, I think. Focusing all my energy, I can feel the power build at my fingertips, like boiling water in a pot with a lid on it. With a yell, I clap my hands together, releasing it.

The power surprises even me, knocking me flat onto my back.

I lift my head just in time to see a telekinetic wave blow forward, throwing all 6 Mogadorians high into the air. I get lucky with one as it lands on a satellite dish of a nearby building, getting impaled. Thank god for cable TV! I see it crumble into nothing as it turns into ash. Sam appears at my side in an instant, grabbing my arm.

"Come on John, you gotta move."

I take Sam's hand, letting him pull me to my feet. The kinetic wave has drained me, like I'd be running for hours non-stop, but I push through the weariness. We reach a huge gap between roofs, and Bernie leaps over with ease, skidding to a stop on the other side and turning back to face me. I know he'll morph if he needs to, but at the moment we aren't in grave danger. I look at the gap, and back to Sam.

"Alright Sam, you're not going to like this."

"Hey, I knew the risk coming along, I'll take you over them any day!"

I take hold of him and hurl him over the gap. He lands on the other side, but I can't check to see if he's alright yet. I take a running leap and land in a roll, getting to my feet. "Sam?" He's lying still, but relief floods through me when I see him stumble to his feet.

"I'm good man, just got the wind knocked out of me... again" He's got a cut on his forehead, but it's not life threatening. I look back and see the Mogs are gaining closer, and they would make that leap with no worries. But the park is close now, and I can make it if I go my fastest. I turn to Sam. "Jump on my back." I can tell he doesn't want to, but as the Mogs near, he leaps on, holding tight. "Alright Bernie." I turn to my dog. "Race you to the park." The beagle starts running, and I am quick on his tail, leaping over vents and chimneys as I push myself to move faster still. I can hear Sam firing at the soldiers behind us, he was a decent shot, probably better then all of us, much to Six's disgust. "John, I hit one!"

"Awesome!" I run on, and my legs and lungs are starting to burn. Thank God Henri had me run to school everyday, otherwise I'd have run out of breath at the start. A beam of energy hits the roof beside me, burning through the tiles like a warning. That was a little too close for my comfort. I'm getting tired, weary. My muscles start to ache, but then I catch sight of my goal. I can only hope Six is there. After this, I was in no shape to fight. Especially not 6 Mogs at once. I don't hesitate, despite the huge drop from the roof to the grass below. "Hold on."

I jump from the 2 story roof, sailing through the air. For that few seconds, there is no sound but that of the wind in my ears. The calm before the storm, I think. The grass below comes rushing towards me at 60 miles an hour, and right before I hit I take hold of a tree branch, swinging forward. I smash through a clump of branches and leaves as I swing, and I flip and land, but not as gracefully as I would have liked.

My knees buckle and Sam and I go tumbling along the grass. He shakes loose from my back, disappearing from sight, and I hit into a tree root, which knocks to wind out of me, bringing an end to my rolling. Something warm is dripping into my eye, and I lift a hand wiping it away. My hand comes back red. _Great_, I think. It's bleeding pretty badly, I don't really know where from since my entire forehead is burning, but the pain is manageable enough. There's no time to complain. I roll onto my stomach, trying to take in air. "Sam…" I try to call out but it sounds more like a nonsensical strangled gasp. Holding up a tired hand, my Lumen lights up my surroundings in its bright blue light. I can see Sam lying in a heap a few feet away. He isn't moving.

Then I hear a sound that makes my hand start to shake.

_Thud_. The sound of something heavy set hitting the ground. It's followed by 4 more, each as ominous as the next. I roll onto my back, holding out both hands into the darkness. For a while I see nothing but trees and leaves, but I can hear their steps coming closer, their feet crunching down on the dead mulch beneath them.

I spot their pale faces one by one as each emerges from the darkness. One of the Mogs is bleeding from its leg, which it drags along uselessly. _Sam did hit one_, I think to myself.

The Mog's are smiling. I think of what they did to Henri, and it makes me furious. Almost immediately my Lumen powers up like fuel on a fire, and it beams straight into the nearest soldier's eyes. The Mog screams, a horrible whining noise that hurts my ears. One of them runs forward to stop my assault, I throw it aside with my left hand, my right still fixed firmly on the soldier. Its skin is burning from the light.

And then another leaps forward. I don't have time to deflect it, and it lands before me. Immediately, it takes hold of my throat with one powerful hand. My Lumen dulls as the Mog squeezes the air out of me. The Mogadorian mutters some words in its native language, a hissing, nasty sounding sentence before smiling once again. Its other hand goes to my necklace, my symbol lighting up blue in its hands. "You're Number Four," it says. The Mog pulls its sword from its sheath slowly, deliberately. It bares its pointy crooked teeth at me menacingly. "I'm going to enjoy this, Lorien."

As I hang in it's hand, only one thought crosses my mind. '_I'm sorry, Sarah'_.

Suddenly the Mog's sneer disappears. It's already pale face turns gray, it's red eyes dropping down to see a blade protruding straight through the middle of it's chest. Its grip on me falters as the soldier turns into ash, crumbling to a pile at my feet, revealing the person behind.

"Sorry I'm late."

I don't think I'd ever been happier to see Six before in my entire life.

She smirks at me, before flipping from view, disappearing as she does. Her appearance renews my strength, and I turn to see a man fighting with a Lorien dagger against one of the scouts. He's older then us, and I can tell by the way he moves that he is the Cepan. Henri fought much the same. They may not have powers like us, but these men knew how to handle a Mogadorian.

To my left, I see another guy engaged in a punching match with a soldier. For a moment, I find it hard to look away. This guy moves quicker then us, spinning and bending as the Mogadorian tries and fails to hit him with his sword. Just when I think the Mog may have him, the guy raises a hand, and the sword clangs against the air like it had hit a brick wall.

He throws a punch into Mog's face, and it jolts from its neck. The Mog turns into ash.

The guy punched its head off.

I see Six for a split second as she appears behind one of the scouts. Her dagger stabs straight through it's back and out its chest, killing it. She disappears with another spin. Another scout disintegrates as the Cepan delivers a piercing blow through its heart with his dagger, leaving only one Mog to deal with. "You're mine," I crack my knuckles, running straight for it. It fires two shots at me, which I deflect with ease. I power up my Lumen, holding it out before me as I run. The Mog turns it's head, lifting it's own hands to block the Lumen from it's eyes. I see Six in the corner of my eye, and she tosses her dagger to me. I hold out my hand, and it flies into my palm. I bring the blade straight down through the Mogs head with a yell. It crumbles before my feet touch to ground again.

The fight is over in under a minute.

I'm struggling for breath now as the adrenaline wear off, but I use what little energy I have left to get to Sam's side. Six is already at her knees beside him, her fingers pressed to his throat as she checks for a pulse. "He's alright," she says, relief drowning through her. "Just knocked out," she assures me.

"Not surprising. We had a hell of a fall," I pointed to the building which I'd jumped from.

"Impressive." Six gently rolls Sam to his back, putting a hand to his cheek as she tries to revive him.

I turn to face the new Lorien, and say, "Not as impressive as you." He's taller then me, but not by much. His hair is dark, almost black, and he has eyes that are as dark as the night sky above us. I notice the scar on his face immediately, but don't say ask about it. I'm pretty sure how he would have gotten it.

I hold out my hand to him. "Number 5?"

He grasps it strongly. "You must be Number Four," he speaks with a English accent.

"John."

"Ben. This is my Cepan, Damien." I shake the other man's hand. He's older then us, with longish dark hair that's graying in patches. He has a weathered face, no doubt from all the things he's seen and experienced. This guy has fought through countless battles, and the end is nowhere in sight.

"You've got an impressive Legacy, Four. Lumen can be used to give a power boost to any other Loriens that might need it. You will also take far longer to tire out then the others, not to mention the benefit of being heat resistant," he gives me a grin. "It's also an invaluable weapon when fighting the Mogs."

"Yeah," I look down at my hands, where the symbols that grow bright in my palms are dulling slowly, "I'm finding that out." Number 5 is looking over his wrists, where his knuckles are beginning to bruise, and I step towards him. "I saw you. You punched that soldier's head right off its body like it was nothing."

Ben shrugged me off. "You have you're tricks, I have mine."

The Cepan stepped towards his charge, clamping a hand on Ben's shoulder. "When Five gained his first legacy, his strength increased ten-fold. If we were still on Lorien, Ben would have been a foremost member of the Garde, and we'd have sent him out on the front lines in battle. His strength is the main Legacy he's inherited. His telekinesis is powerful as well, stronger then you others. He can't hide like Six can, or blind them like you. Five can only fight."

"I don't mind it, actually. Nothing gives me more satisfaction then punching a Mog in the face." Ben cracked his knuckles.

"I'll bet." I hear Sam coming to, and I quickly return to his side. "You alright man? Sorry about that, I'll try to stick the landing next time."

He puts a hand to his head, squeezing his eyes shut as he struggles into a sitting position. "Hey, as long as my computer isn't broken, no harm done. If it is, I'm afraid I'm going to have to kill you. I'm sorry John, it's just the way it has to be."

Six smiles, helping Sam to his feet. "Glad to see the fall hasn't damaged your quick wit," she gave his temple a playful flick, before pulling him into a tight, quick hug. She turns to me afterward, looking me up and down, before reaching up to my forehead. "That's pretty deep, Four."

"I'll live."

"I'll be the judge of that," Damien walks towards me, squinting in the moonlight at my forehead. "You think you can give me a bit of light, Four?" I hold out my hand, light shooting up from my palm once more. He takes hold of the bottom of his tee, and tears off a large piece from the bottom, wiping away the blood and examining the gash more closely. "I don't think it needs stitches."

"I've had worse," I say, stepping back.

Bernie Kosar trots out of the woods, taking a seat by my feet. "Where were you for all the fighting, huh?" I demand, folding my arms.

"_I think you had it covered, John."_

Damien looks at the Beagle, transfixed for a small while, before dropping into a crouch. "A Chimera," he says, truly astounded. Bernie walks over, enjoying the affection the Cepan gives him. "I thought they had all died back on Lorien." I can hear the emotion in the mans voice. I wonder for a moment what it would be like for him. For us, our only memories of Lorien are the ones that we see when we inherited our legacies, or any stories told to us by our Cepan's. We never really lived there, never experienced what it was like. This man did. "I never thought I'd see one of these again. Where did he come from?"

"He was on our ship. My grandparents sent him with me, to protect me."

"A loyal pet to have, for sure."

"He's proven it."

Ben walks toward me. "I'd love to stay here and catch up, but by now the Mog's would have guessed something's up. It's only a matter of time before more of them show up. What's say we make like a tree and get the hell out of here?"

"I couldn't agree with you more." Six says.

I walk back to the tree root where I'd fallen, and pick up my backpack. After checking everything inside is still in tact, I pull it over my shoulder, turning back to the others. "I'm not going with you." Six looks to me, hands on her hips and her eyebrow raised in question. She really _was _turning into my older sister. I continue, "We've found Number 5 now, and his Capen, you know where to look for Number 7. I'm going back to Paradise."

"Is that some sort of code, or something?" Ben asks.

I shake my head. "I used to live in Paradise, Ohio. I've left somebody behind."

Damien stands up from petting Bernie, his eyes fixed on mine. "A girl. A human girl?"

I nod my head, wondering what this new Cepan would think about my relationship. Henri had been pretty angry at first, but once he realized I was in love with Sarah, that it was real and not some teenage summer romance, he stopped pressuring me about it. His stand on the relationship had been clear though. The Mogs were out to take over Earth, and if I really loved Sarah, I wouldn't let them do it. I had to leave her to save her. And so far I had lived up to the promise, and I still plan to. "I'm in love with her," I look between Damien and Ben, making sure my words were clear. "I haven't seen her in a year, so I'm going back."

To my relief, the Cepan nods his head knowingly. "If she is your match, then I understand. It must be tough on you, Four. The Cepan's had all been told before we left Lorien that this could happen, that the Nine Lorien's could and possibly would make their bonds with humans instead of each other."

"Wait, hold up one second," Six steps forward, frowning. "We were supposed to match up with each other?" Sam looked on, feeling a little worried at the direction this conversation was taking, especially considering this newly discovered Number 5 was tall and muscley and looked like a freakin' movie star.

Damien nods his head once. "It had been a hope that the Lorien race would be able to live on through you Nine somehow, that you would match up and continue life on this planet. Granted, it was never really set in stone. You control your own destinies."

I nod my head at him, my destiny had been set already. "I'll be back soon, I promise. Just keep your phone on you, Six. I'll call when I'm going to leave." Sam walks over to me, hugging me briefly.

"Say hi to her for me."

Six nods her head. "Stay in contact, John."

"I will." I turn to Damien and Ben. "I'm glad that we've found you two. We're one step closer to ending the Mogadorian threat and living our lives. Real lives." Ben walks over to me, shaking my hand.

"Stay safe, Four."

As I head away into the darkness, I turn back once to look at the four people I'm leaving behind. I hope to God this is not the last time I see them all.

_AN: One more chapter down. I'm quite surprised I managed to keep John and Sarah apart a whole seven chapters : ) Let me know what you guys think, any ideas…_


	9. Chapter 9

_AN: Hello, guys. Thanks for the reviews again, it's great that so many are liking this story. I hope I don't disappoint :) _

_Don't own anything to do with I Am Number Four. I asked Pittacus Lore and he shot me down._

**CHAPTER NINE**

"_Focus, John! You can do this!"_

"_I can't!"_

"_Yes you can! You have no idea what you're capable of. You are just starting to tap into your legacies. This may seem hard, but you can do this, and so much more. Now try again," Henri stands back, folding his arms and watching me. I take a breath and raise my hand at the wooden plank in the distance. All I needed to do was snap the wood in half, but the distance made it seem impossible. I focus on the wood with intense concentration, nothing else in my mind. _

_I hear a satisfying 'snap' and the wooden plank doubles over. "Whoo hoo!" I fist-pump the air. "Can we go eat now, I'm starving!"_

"_Ha, you're funny," Henry goes to the house and returns later with a bucket of the dreaded tennis balls. Bernie Kosar is dancing around his feet, jumping and flipping in excitement. He absolutely loved when I did this training. It was the fetch game from hell._

"_Oh come on, Henri. Really?"_

_Henri picks up one of the balls and starts tossing it from hand to hand. "Yes, really. I'm not going to be around forever, John. It's my job to make sure that if something happens to me, you can take care of yourself." _

"_How is levitating tennis balls going to help?"_

_He threw one at my head, and I immediately duck, taking hold of it with my telekinesis. "Imagine that ball is a dagger and you'll know why I'm doing this. Now concentrate. I know you're thinking about that girl, so stop!"_

_I just smile and turn towards him. "Make you a deal?" He huffs. "An hour more of this, and then Sarah gets to come over for dinner. She's wanted to meet you since we started dating. You know, cause you're my dad."_

_Henri agrees grumpily. "But you focus on this training, John. It'll save your life one day." _

I am shaken awake from my dream as the plane bounces along through turbulence, and it takes me a moment to remember where I am. The cabin is not overly full, so thankfully no ones sitting next to me. Flying on planes had always been nerve-wracking; I _really_ didn't like enclosed spaces. No escape routes, no places to hide, and both things Henri had been very stern about always needing to have. And although I was fairly confident that there wasn't a Mog on board, I truly couldn't wait until I was off it. The plane touched ground at around 4pm, and I hurry through customs, walking straight passed the baggage collection, a definite benefit of traveling light. Growing up, Henri and I rarely if ever traveled by plane. He preferred the open road, so did I.

I remember I used to hate the drives in Henri's truck. Each journey was hours long as we left another home, and another life behind. My protector always warned me about making friends, telling me again and again that it would make it harder to leave. I never listened, preferring the temporary happiness of friendship over the days and weeks of loneliness life on the run brought.

This was going to be the first time in my entire life I was heading to somewhere I truly wanted go.

I end up buying an old pick-up from a dodgy looking dealer for $500. It's faded dark blue, it's tires are bald and it had no right side view mirror. The truck is kind of perfect for me for me actually, and the man is more than happy I'm taking the vehicle off his hands. I only need it for this trip, and plan on dumping it when I leave again.

I stop at a small motel about halfway between the airport and Paradise, and check in, spending a few minutes putting my stuff in my room. The room is nothing impressive, with a double bed in the centre, a small TV sitting on a desk the corner of the room and a kitchenette smaller then the ones in my home-ec classroom. I check out the bathroom, pretty standard, with a toilet and shower, a basin and small mirror. '_Well_', I think, '_At least it's clean'_.

I walk outside, scoping out the area. There's an empty pool and a shabby looking swing set that looks like it hasn't been played on for years. Surrounding the motel is forest stretching for miles. If any Mog's turn up, I've got plenty of escape routes I can take.

I start the drive into Paradise, thinking back to the battle in London. That Mog had almost gotten me. If I hadn't already made up my mind to see Sarah, that near-death experience sure did it. Once again, Six saved my life. She and Ben, and Damien.

Number 5 was impressive, that was for sure and I wondered how strong he truly was. The fact that strength was his legacy should be an indication to his power. We were stronger then humans anyway, I remember throwing around those football players with ease last year without breaking a sweat. In any case, I was relieved Six found him. We were a step closer to ending this war, and I was a step closer to being back here with Sarah forever.

I wonder what legacies the other Loriens might have, how powerful the others could be, and I think again of Number Ten. Of all the Loriens, this one has me the most curious. I make it a point to ask Ben's Cepan about it but I doubt he'll tell me anything I haven't heard already. This time I'm going to watch very closely at his reaction. I'm not a kid anymore, I can tell when I'm being lied to.

There are so many questions I want to ask the two Loriens, especially Damien. The Cepan will be able to answer all the things I didn't ask Henri when I could have. Paradise was where I met Sarah, but it was also the place where Henri was taken from me.

The Paradise township comes into view and as I get closer, and I'm suddenly nervous. Butterflies are dancing around in my stomach, and my hands grip the steering wheel tightly, wringing back and forth as thoughts swirl through my head. What if she sees me and realizes she doesn't love me? I don't know if I could handle that. I tell myself I'm crazy, but then another thought comes into mind. What if the cops see me and try to arrest me for being a terrorist? I won't let them, of course, but if that happens, I'll have to run again, and I won't be able to see Sarah. I _have_ to see her. It's been too long since she was standing in front of me. Dreams aren't enough anymore, I need the real thing.

I get some semblance of a plan in my head, hoping my memory of Paradise's layout was right. If I park a block away from her house, I could wait until dark and then sneak to her bedroom. I'm pretty sure I can make the jump from the ground to her bedroom window pretty easily. Then we can just get into my truck and drive. I smile at that thought.

As I enter the township, something's staring me right in the face that puts an end to my plan and has me stop the truck in the middle of the street. In front of me, in huge golden letters, were the words '_PARADISE SPRING CARNIVAL'. _The banner stretched from one light post across the road to the other. The carnival… this night last year had been the night I inherited my telekinesis. And it had been the night I first kissed her. It was definitely the more important of the two events, the night I knew that Sarah wasn't just another girl. When our lips had touched, I realized my life wouldn't be the same anymore. Hopefully history would repeat itself tonight. Sarah would probably be at the carnival, doing the photos. I'm pretty sure she's the only decent photographer for miles around, there was no way she'd get out of doing them.

"Well John," I put the truck into drive and accelerate down the street. "It's now or never."

_**Montreal, Canada**_

"Okay, I officially _hate_ Canada," Sam trudges into the old wooden cabin, kicking his boots free from snow and walking to the beat up chair in the corner. "Why can't we go somewhere like Hawaii or Bali, you know, someplace nice and toasty warm, with white sandy beaches and coconuts?"

"There is no Loriens in Hawaii," Six walks into the cabin next, dropping her brand new bag onto the ground. Seeing as John had left everything she'd owned back in their apartment in London, she'd had to buy brand new clothes and shoes, camera, and laptop. She was now the owner of 3 proud 'I love Canada' T-shirts, one of them had a moose on it. It was annoying, but she could hardly blame Number Four for hightailing it out of there when the Mogadorians showed up. Six still wasn't sure how they had tracked their apartment down. There was a small chance they had picked up a scent, but something didn't add up in her head about that. It worried her, like she was missing something about the Mogadorians that was staring her right in the face.

Damien had taken them all to the airport after leaving the park, catching the first plane out of there, which, incidentally, was heading to Canada. When they landed, Damien hired a car and drove the group to the city of Saint-Laurent. He chose it because it was one of Montreal's most ethnically mixed areas. The Cepan said that it would make it easy to blend in, but Sam was pretty sure it was because Saint-Laurent boasted the best fast food, Coronet's Pizza. They were renting this old cabin high up in the mountains, in a pretty remote area. Damien and his 2 sons and daughter were avid skiing fans from Switzerland, the Cepan had said over the phone when making the arrangements. It was only temporary residence until they made a game plan. "Quit whining, it's not so bad here." Six smiles as Bernie trudges in out of the cold, shaking off his wet fur and heading to a stop under the table. "Bernie likes it."

"It's freezing."

Damien and Ben head inside, and the Cepan immediately locks the door behind them. "Snow's good for us, it hides our scent from the Mogs. If there _are_ any in the area, they'll have to rely on their eyes over their nose. Not too bad considering we are trying to hide."

"_You're_ trying to hide," Six corrects him. "I couldn't care less if Mogadorians decide to drop in and say hi."

Ben walks to the ancient fireplace, pulling a lighter from the front pocket of his jeans and flicking it on as he attempts to light the wood. "You're pretty cocky, you know that Six?" he says to her.

In reply, Six holds out a hand. The small flame from his lighter shoots forward like a flamethrower, the wood cracking beneath the intense heat as it catches alight. Six kept up the pressure until the fire is roaring away, before dropping her hand back down with a smug smile. "That answer your question?"

Ben gets to his feet, walking over to her. "Any other _surprises _I should know about?" he asks, standing way to close to Six for Sam's liking.

"Elemental manipulation," Damien is shaking his head in disbelief. "You've got some skills, Six."

"I know I do. And I have fun using them to bring Mogadorians down," Six walks over and sits beside Sam. "I'm not hiding from them anymore. They want me, they can come and get me."

"You're feisty… you're mother was much the same."

Six's demeanor changes immediately, and Sam notices the shift in her from aggressive to curious. Six had always told herself that she didn't care, that she didn't need to know her. But the second Damien spoke about her, Six felt this undeniable need to find out more. "You knew my mother?"

Damien nods to her, taking a seat at the old wooden table. "You're elemental manipulation is inherited from her. She used to play tricks on everyone back on our planet, making it rain on them on a clear day was one of her favorites. She never got tired of teasing people." The Cepan sighs deeply as he remembers life on Lorien. "She was an amazing woman, spirited as anyone you'll ever meet. You're father was different, he was more quiet and reserved. They balanced each other out well." Sam listens as eagerly as Six, wanting to know everything there is to know about the girl sitting beside him. "I was a very good friend of your father, I introduced the two of them." It surprises Six how much Damien's story affects her. She had no memory of her parents at all. Her visions of people on Lorien were solely of her grandparents, who were a child's main caregivers until they turned 25, or Katerina, who had been her constant companion for as far back as Six could remember. It was just how society was. She had asks her Cepan once before about her parents, but Katerina hadn't known them that well. The only thing she had said was that her mother had been beautiful. Hearing Damien talk about them like this, how they had been before the war, made Six realize just how much she had _wanted _to know about them, how much she needed to know about them.

"At first, you're mother thought you're father was too different from her, and that they wouldn't make a good couple. Your father didn't agree, and pursued her until he won her over. You were born 2 years later, and then the war hit a few years after that."

"And they were killed…" Six says in a quiet voice.

Damien nodded slowly. "Along with almost every other Lorien on our entire planet."

"Why were we chosen?" Six asked. It had really bothered her for the longest time. "Of all the Loriens left, why were we the ones picked to live out our lives on Earth?"

"You Nine are all children of members of the Lorien Garde, a society of the most powerful Loriens on our planet designed to protect others from war. We had to act fast when the Mogadorians hit our planet, and all those who were present quickly decided that the children of the Garde would grow up to be mighty soldiers, and could one day reclaim Lorien back from the Mogs once they had grown up."

Six shook her head. "The Mogadorians took over our_ entire_ planet. They killed thousands of Loriens who were more powerful then we are. What made them think nine of us could reclaim it back?"

"Had we known about the Mogadorian attack, we would have not only won the battle, we would have destroyed the Mogadorians once and for all. They knew that, which is why they hit us with a surprise attack, with overwhelming force. You are truly gifted, Six. You're powers give you the ability to wipe out entire Mogadorian settlements in one hit, and once you have perfected your Legacies, there will be few forces on this world that can stop you. Ordinarily, a Lorien is at their prime when they turn 25, but we have no idea how growing up on earth has affected you. Ben developed his Legacy a lot later then was ordinary on our home planet. And you were…?"

"Fourteen."

The Cepan nodded his head. "You display an enormous amount of power and control, already, and this is only going to increase. When you join up with the others," Damien's eyes are sparkling, "the power will be insurmountable."

"So we were supposed to meet up, find one another, I mean?" Ben asked this time from his spot by the fireplace.

"Yes, when you were ready. The Charm acted as a protection until your legacies developed. As Cepan's, we were to act as guides and bodyguards until you were at an age to defend yourself. We help you to develop and control your legacies, but we are not equipped to fight this upcoming war. Each of you has powers, and when you fight together, you can learn to combine them, turn you remaining Loriens into a well-oiled fighting machine."

"You can teach us to do this?" Six asked. Combining powers sounded intriguing to her.

Damien nodded. "It will take a lot of practice, a lot of fine-tuning, but I think you are both ready to begin the training. We'll get settled in here first, Six you take that room, Sam, you can bunk in with Ben."

"Yay," Sam says under his breath.

"Until Four comes back, we're going to hang here and start mapping out a plan." It felt good to have an adult around, someone to take charge. Both Sam and Six felt like a heavy weight had been lifted from their shoulders, one they didn't even know they had on there until it was gone.

Sam got settled into the room. It wasn't too big, with two single beds on either side and a small window in the middle that was frosted over. Compared to some of the others places Sam had stayed at recently, this was a mansion. It didn't take long to put his stuff away, he didn't have much. He took a seat of the bed, bouncing slightly as the springs lifted his weight. Sam felt kind of out of place now with the two new Loriens here. It was weird without John. He was the reason Sam knew all the things about Lorien and the Mogadorians, the war that was coming up and the importance of their search. John was his best friend, and he always looked out for Sam, defended him against anything Six had said about him in the early days. Six was, well, he wouldn't call her his good friend or anything. Sam couldn't really see her jumping to her feet and defending him if Ben or Damien questioned why he was here.

"Knock, knock."

Sam jumped in fright as the intruder interrupted his thought, turning to see the Cepan, Damien standing in the doorway. "Oh, uh, hey."

"Mind if I come in?"

"No, not at all." Sam motioned the man in with a hand as he wondered what the heck he wanted. Damien looked around the room with a slow steady gaze, before walking to Ben's bed and sitting down slowly. He leant forward, arms resting on his knees, and looked at Sam. It almost felt like the Cepan was scrutinizing him, and Sam had a good idea why.

"I know it's probably weird, having a human here fighting this war, and its dangerous too. I'm a liability a lot more then I'm an asset."

"I don't mind you being here at all, and though I find it a bit strange that a human would willingly put their lives in danger for us, I appreciate your sacrifice all the same."

"Sacrifice?"

"Well, I'd imagine you had to leave a comfortable home, friends, a mother and a father who love you…"

"Yeah," Sam shook his head. "That's not really so much of a sacrifice for me, more like an escape. My stepfather was a total asshole and my mom was too drunk to care. She used to be different, when my real father was around. But after he disappeared, she changed. I plan on either finding my father, or avenging him. I don't really care which."

Damien listened as the boy spoke, his hands clasped in front of him in thought. "You're father is…"

"Malcolm Goode." Sam said. Something changed in Damien's face, Sam didn't quite know what it was. It was more in the Cepan's eyes then anything else, like a million emotions crossed through them in a second, surprise, anger, realization. The Cepan's may be good at hiding, but Sam caught that look. "Does that name mean anything to you? Do you know my father?" he demanded anxiously.

For an agonizingly long moment, the Cepan remains quiet, thinking over his words carefully before speaking. "Your father was a good man, Sam."

At that moment, Sam felt a flood of overwhelming emotion, the kind you got when you'd hoped for something so strong and realized you were right. "You knew my father?" he asks in a choked tone.

Damien nods. He doesn't know how much he should tell the boy, too much information could have an adverse effect on him, but he did feel for him. It was clear to Damien that he was scared, though he might not admit to it, and that he felt out of his element amongst the young Loriens whose powers were intimidating. And he knew personally what it felt to lose a loved one. But, more important than that, the Lorien people did not believe in coincidence like humans did. The fact that Sam Goode had turned up and was fighting for the Lorien's was not by chance. Everything happened for a reason. Damien takes a breath, "Malcolm Goode has been an ally to the Lorien for years. He's known of the Mogadorians since before you were born," Sam listens intently as the Cepan speaks, his hands gripping the mattress at his sides.

"Why didn't he tell me?"

"He was sworn into secrecy by the Lorien Elders. He really loved you, Sam. Spoke of you often."

"Spoke… loved," Sam was almost afraid to ask.

Damien got to his feet, walking over to Sam and laying a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, that is all that I can tell you. I honestly do not know if you're father is alive or dead."

"Well, why not?"

The Cepan thinks back to the destruction of Lorien, and his heart still reacts in pain as the memories of his people being slaughtered comes to mind. He swallows, his eyes shutting as he forces himself to recall what happened. "Two ships took off on Lorien the day it was attacked. The first, the only Lorien vessel that had escaped destruction carried the Nine and their Cepan's to earth," he took a steady breath. "And the second was an earth made vessel, one that was piloted by Malcolm Goode."

Sam's mouth dropped open in shock. His father had been a space pilot, he had fought in an alien war. He hadn't abandoned him like Sam's mother always said. Sam had been right! He'd been right! "What was he doing there?"

"Malcolm Goode often visited Lorien, researching our planet and species, learning from us so he could help mankind. We shared our technology with him, it's how he built his ship. He also learnt our way of life and he was a friend to our people, even the Lorien Elders enjoyed your father's company."

"What happened to his ship the day Lorien was attacked?"

"I do not know what happened to the vessel, Sam," Damien replied honestly. "I lost sight of it as the ship took flight. But Five had a vision of the second ship when he acquired his first legacy, and it seems Six and Four did as well. I do not know why they saw it, but it must have some significance to them. Just know, Sam Goode, that your father was a hero."

Sam sits dead still on his bed, lost in thought for hours after Damien leaves. There was so much information to take in, his brain was almost hurting. Above all else, though, Sam was elated, overjoyed. His father didn't abandon him. His father _had_ loved him.

And his father was a freakin' space pilot! Sam went to bed smiling that night.

_**Paradise, Ohio**_

Sarah snaps a few shots of people on the tilt-a-whirl ride, pausing to check them over on her camera. She loved photographing this particular ride over any other. It moves so fast that her older camera can't quite capture a clean frame, so the lights drags in the photo, a mass of different colors swirling around. She had to admit, coming to the carnival wasn't as horrible as she had first thought it would have been. Too many times to count, she'd picked up the phone, ready to call Mark and tell him she was sick and wouldn't be able to make it. But something always stopped her from going through with it.

Besides, John wouldn't want her sitting around, doing nothing. He'd want her to get out, and enjoy life.

"How did the photo's turn out?" Mark appears at her side, a stick of cotton candy in his hand. He offers her some, and she takes a handful with a small smile.

"Really good. Sometimes in photo's, beauty comes from imperfection." She clicks through some her photo's, deep in thought. "I guess that's like a lot of things in life, you know?" She looks up, Mark's got a confused expression on his face. "I just mean, life would be pretty boring if everything was perfect all the time."

"Yeah, I suppose."

She knows he doesn't get what she's saying, but she doesn't really mind all the much. Not every guy could understand her like John could, after all. They start walking slowly side-by-side, and she stops a little further on and takes a couple of photo's of the kids playing in the hay piles, smiling as they start throwing handfuls of straw at one another.

"How have you been, Sarah?" Mark asks. "And be honest. I won't believe you if you say you've been _fine_ and _good_."

She smiles. "Would you believe it's getting easier?" He shakes his head. "Then I've been about the same since John left. I'm trying to be happy, but it's kind of impossible when somebody you love is in danger. Sometimes I can't sleep at night because I get this dull feeling in my chest that makes me think something's happened to him, and I can't shake it until he calls or texts and lets me know he's alright."

Mark swallows. "It didn't take too long for you to fall in love with him, Sarah."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, you only knew him for a couple of months? How well can you know somebody in that time? Besides, you didn't find out who or_ what_ John was until the party, and he had to leave straight after that."

"What's your point, Mark?"

"Are you sure he's who you think he is? It's easy to create a perfect person in your head by remembering only what you want to, but they're an illusion, and they're dangerous. They don't have flaws. John was around for such a short period… are you sure he's the great guy you paint him as?"

"John saved my life," Sarah states, glaring at Mark angrily. "He also saved yours, your fathers, every single person in Paradise."

"Those monsters came for him. If he were never here…"

"You have no _idea_ what John has to live with everyday, the pressure that's on his shoulders. Those monsters are only after John so they can kill him, and take over Earth without any interference. John and his friends are the _only_ thing keeping your cozy little life secure, Mark."

Mark feels like an idiot, and he runs a hand through his hair. "Sorry."

Sarah shakes her head, anger burning through her at her ex-boyfriends words. "You know what, I think I'm going to go home."

"Sarah, no wait, I'm sorry, please," he takes her hand, stopping her from leaving. "I just wanted to make sure you're happy, I won't bring it up again, I swear. If John is everything you say he is, then I believe you. Please don't let my stupid jealousy ruin your night."

She twists her hand free from his, but stays at his side. Emily and Kevin, a guy from the football team come running up, hand-in-hand. "Hey, apparently the Halloween Hay Ride is supposed to be _actually_ scary this year! We were going to catch the next trailer, it leaves in a few minutes."

"We're good, man," Mark says quickly, eager to make amends with Sarah.

"Oh come on!" Emily pushes, turning to face Sarah. "Remember how freaked out we were last year! You and those two guys were practically screaming, and that was _before _Mark and his idiot friends turned up." Those guys… that was what John and Sam had been delegated to by Emily. She probably doesn't even remember Sam's name, and she made out with him at a party.

"Yeah, we won't do that this year, Sarah, promise." Kevin and Emily head away, motioning for her and Mark to follow.

Mark turns to face her, giving Sarah an apologetic smile. "I know we agreed on no rides, but there's not really any harm right?" He holds out his hand to her. For some reason, going on this ride seems really daunting to her. The memory of the last time she'd been on it was clear, and she had been scared, sure, but she had been with John. If she rode on it again, without him beside her holding her hand, smiling, it would make all those seem like nothing more then a dream. "Sarah…" Mark says, bringing her back to reality. "It's just a ride."

Right, it's just a ride, nothing else. She can do this ride without John. She is about to accept Mark's outstretched hand, when Sarah sees something over his shoulder that makes her freeze.

At first, she thinks she is crazy. After all, it wouldn't be the first time she hallucinated about seeing John. For the first few weeks after he left, she would see him often around town, smiling and waving to her, waiting for her in home-ec class, standing by her car, only to fade away when she reached him. She admit that she had gone a little crazy after he'd left. So when she sees him here, at the Spring Carnival, where last year on this exact day they shared their first kiss, Sarah tells herself that it's not real, she's just hallucinating again. He wasn't really here.

But then, after half a minutes past, he's still there, walking towards her. Sarah can see Mark's mouth moving as he talked and laughed at something, but she can't hear him. In fact, all the noise of the carnival seems to have faded away. All the people are gone, and the place is deserted. There is only John walking towards her, his blue eyes fixed on hers. She moves forward, walking at first, taking slow cautious steps as if she's scared this whole place will shatter into a million pieces and she will sit up in her bed. _It's a dream_, she tells herself, trying to keep the excitement down. _It has to be a dream_. But three steps closer and he's still there. Sarah starts running.

""""

I see her through the crowd moving towards me, her long blonde hair sailing out behind her, and I break into a sprint as well, I don't care who sees me anymore. She's in my arms within a second, her head buried in the crook of my neck. I wrap my arms around her back, lifting her clear of the ground as I hold her close. "You're really here," she says against me. I can feel the dampness of tears soak through my shirt onto my skin. I run my hand through her loose hair, it feels like silk, better then any dream I'd had.

"I told you I'd come back, Sarah."

I want to stand here forever, but I know I can't. We have to move, need to get out of town before anybody gets a good look at me and decides to call the cops. I look over Sarah's head and I see Mark. He's got a scowl on his face as he stares our way, almost like I'd interrupted a date. I wouldn't put it passed him to call the cops on me.

I take a step back, holding out my hand. "Come with me," I say to her. She takes my hand without a word. "I've got to get out of town as quick as I can. They still think I'm a terrorist," I say as I lead her to my truck. She nods her head, and I can't help but reach out and put my hand on her cheek as we walk. The feel of her velvety skin beneath my palm gives me Goosebumps. "Do you mind?"

She shakes her head at me. "I've been waiting an entire year for this John," she says simply.

We jump into the truck and head out the way I came.

_AN: Whoo hoo! I'm pretty sure this is the longest story I've written, yay for me._


	10. Chapter 10

_AN: Hey guys, thanks again for the reviews and ideas! This chapter was written primarily for all you John/Sarah fans out there :)_

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

Love.

A Lorien can only love once, and it lasts forever. One match, one companion, for eternity. Once their partner is found, they share with them a bond that cannot be broken, one that goes far deeper then an emotional and physical connection. It cannot be explained in words, it can only be experienced. They become devoted to one another over anybody or anything else. The greatest love a human can feel pales in comparison to the Lorien Bond. It is without an end.

These were just a few statements Henri had told me about the way my species loves. He had been trying to describe to me why I found the thought of leaving Sarah behind so impossible to fathom. His words were powerful, sure, and they helped me in a small way to understand what was happening to me. But they came no where close to explaining why at night as I try to sleep, all I see in is Sarah's almond shaped eyes looking up at me through her long dark eyelashes, smiling despite her lips not moving an inch. Why, when I wake up every single morning, I have this insatiable need to see her, to talk to her.

And why, as I walk side by side with her out the back of the small motel I'm staying at, my skin is buzzing like electricity and I can't seem to tear my eyes away from her face. She is my match, my partner, my equal. I can't live in a world where Sarah Hart doesn't exist. "I can't believe you're actually here," she says to me.

"The feeling is mutual, believe me. I've wanted to come see you the moment I left, Sarah, it's been absolute hell being apart. You know, I've been all over the world, seen some of the most amazing places earth has to offer, but none of them compare to Paradise, Ohio."

"Well," she tilts her head up at me for a moment, "a wise man once told me that a place is only as good as the people in it." I smile down at her, taking her hand in mine, our fingers linked with each other. "Where have you been?" she asks me, her eyes facing forward.

"Europe, mostly," I reply. "We went there as soon as we left Ohio. You know that tracking stone we used…" Sarah nods, and I continue on, "it gave us the location of the remaining members of my kind. We tracked Number 5 all over the place, before he finally settled in London. It still took us a few months to find him though."

"But you did?" She tilts her head up to me in question.

"Six did. I met him for about a minute, then I came here." I pull her close. "And I don't plan on going back anytime soon."

She spots the old swing set, angling her walk towards it. "You know, before you turned up tonight, Mark was saying how I had created this image in my head about you being the perfect man, and how you could end up nothing like the guy I fell in love with." She sits down on one of the swings, rocking it back and forth slightly with her toe. "He was wrong."

I sit down on the other swing beside her, my hands holding the chain links. "I'm not perfect, Sarah. Not even close."

"You're perfect for me," she replies without missing a beat. "I know you make mistakes, and sometimes you might say or do the wrong thing, but it doesn't make you any less of an amazing person. You give so much of yourself, John, and nobody knows about it. You're fighting to end a war that hasn't started yet, and I love you for that." She drops her eyes. "You're such an incredible guy, I get scared that you'll end up finding someone else who is as remarkable as you and forget all about me."

"Sarah," I turn her face to mine with a finger on her chin. "There is nobody in this entire world or the next that can replace you. I wonder everyday if maybe you'll wake up one morning and realize that _I'm _not good enough for_ you_, and you decide to leave and find someone else. You're smart and undeniably beautiful and there are literally hundreds of guys that would kill to be your boyfriend. I thank everyday that _you_ chose _me_. So you never ever have to worry about me finding someone else, because there is no one else to find. You're it for me. You're the girl I want to be with for the rest of my life." I've wanted to say that to her from the beginning, and it comes out in a rush of words.

She smiles at me, her eyes sparkling brightly. "You're the guy I want to be with for the rest of my life."

We sit on the swings in relative silence. Her eyes are facing forwards over the horizon, and mine are locked to her face, drinking in every inch of her as I can. I know as I look at her now that I'm never _ever_ going to take a moment I spend with her for granted. She turns to me, and smiles, her eyes tilting up at the sides beneath her long lashes. "What?" she asks me.

In answer, I reach over, running my finger along her hairline, capturing her hair and tucking it behind her ear softly. Her eyes close as my hand moves, opening again as I say, "I've dreamed about doing that every night for an entire year, Sarah."

She leans in close when I finish talking, and my heart starts pounding in my ears in anticipation. I meet her halfway, our lips touching tentatively like both us had never kissed before. It's a delicate kiss, and far too brief for my liking. Our lips part slightly, and she's breathing deeply, looking at me with wide eyes.

"What?" I smile at her, our foreheads pressed together.

She frowns at me, shaking her head as her eyes look downward at my mouth. "You have no _idea_ what you do to me, John."

I take her head in my hands, kissing her again. There's nothing delicate or hesitant about this kiss, our lips are moving rough and quick against each other. I'm tugging at the bottom of her shirt, pulling her closer and her hands are running all over my back, and up into my hair. It feels so good, but I have to pull away. Sarah moans at our distance, moving towards me again. I duck out of her embrace, giving her a sheepish little smile. "Uh, we should maybe…"

Sarah looks around, she'd almost forgotten where we were. The back lawn of a motel wasn't really an appropriate place to share kisses like the ones we had just been sharing. She turns back to face me, her cheeks a burning red. "Maybe we should go inside."

_**Montreal, Canada**_

A day has past since Damien broke the news to Sam about his father, but he still walks around with a beaming smile on his face. Six notices, and it makes her happy for him. She had her doubts about his dad, and she had truthfully thought that maybe Malcolm _had_ abandoned his son. But she'd always been a bit 'glass-half-empty' and she was glad that she'd been proved wrong in this instance. Today was the first day that Damien was going to train Six and Five how to combine their legacies. She was intrigued at the thought, after all, anything that took the Mogadorians down brought a smile to her face.

"Hey Six, come check this out," Sam calls to her from his spot in front of his laptop. As she does, she realizes the camera sitting on top is switched on, and as she walks into frame, Sam snaps a photo of them. "What the hell are you…" she pauses when she sees it. Their faces are distorted and pulled, and she starts laughing despite herself. "You look like a fish."

"And you look like a giraffe. It's the perfect match, don't you think?" he tilts his head up to look at her.

"You're crazy, Sam. Has anyone ever told you that?"

"I tell myself that all the time," he replies easily.

"Six, come on."

Sam turns to Number Five as he walks in, feeling that tiny bit more insecure, especially when he sees Six's eyes light up at Ben. Five walks into the lounge, motioning her over. "Damien has _summoned_ us," he made quotation marks with his fingers. "Ready to get your ass beaten?" he smiles. Six rolls her eyes, gives Sam's shoulder a small squeeze and then leaves the room with the other Lorien.

Sam watches in silence as the two aliens head out the back door. He wants to follow, to watch, but he doesn't move. No matter how close he is to John and Six, they're still aliens, and he's a human. There are things that he doesn't understand about them, no matter how much he wants to know. He thinks about his dad again. Despite Damien not knowing about the second ship, Sam isn't going to give up hope that his father is alive until the end. If there were even a chance at getting his dad back, he would take it, no question. This wasn't just a Lorien/Mogadorian war anymore. Like Father, like Son. The Mogs were going down, and Sam wouldn't be watching from the sidelines either.

Outside the cabin, in the bitter cold, Six and Ben stand side-by-side as Damien wanders about, setting up blocks of wood as targets and obstacles. It reminds Six of her own training days with her Cepan. Katerina had pushed her pretty hard from early on, but Six didn't regret it at all. If it wasn't for her Cepan's strict training, Six would be dead, no question about it.

"So, what do you think about the whole 'Lorien match-making thing' we're supposed to be doing?" Ben asks, nudging her shoulder with his.

"I don't think about it," Six replies without looking at him.

"Right." The two stand there in silence for a long while, eyes ahead, before Six sighs, facing the guy next to her. "I'm not going to let someone else dictate how I should live out my life, or who I should live out my life with. Our grandparents and parents may have wanted us to match up with one another and have little alien babies, but I'm not going to let that govern who I end up with. And that's _if_ I end up with anyone at all."

"Oh, you'll end up with someone, trust me."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Ben shrugs at her, giving Six a smile that makes her cheeks go warm. "You're confident in almost every way. I'm not going to believe you if you tell me you don't think you're beautiful. You know you are, Six."

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?"

Ben scratches the back of his head. "It was _supposed_ to be, but it kind of came out as an insult, didn't it?"

"A little bit."

"Sorry. Let me rephrase my sentence. You're an extraordinarily beautiful girl, and a guy would be absolutely crazy not to be into you. How's that?"

Six doesn't reply at first, but she's blushing and she hates it. "I'm not interested," she tells him after a while. "I don't care if we're predestined to be together or not." She walks forward, leaving Ben behind her. Okay, so when he smiled at her, she blushed, it didn't mean anything. And sure, she might be possibly, maybe, _mildly_ attracted to him, but it was only because he was unfairly good-looking in those jeans and black tee shirt.

"Alright. Basically, I set these first blocks up to test what you can already do," Damien walks towards the two and points out three wooden planks stabbed into the ground. "Once I know what you're capable of, I can assess how to combine your legacies together in the most effective ways. So, Six, do you're worst."

Six, glad for the distraction, held out her hand to the first plank. A few seconds later, the wood burst into hot orange flames, with the smoke burning high into the sky. She kept the pressure on until the wood was completely gone. She moved her hand to the next one, taking a breath in to focus, just as Katerina taught her. The wooden plank shattered in half with a _crack_ as her telekinesis snapped it to pieces. For the last, she starts sprinting towards the remaining block, disappearing with ease in mid run. She leaps from the ground, her footprints disappearing from the snow. Six takes hold of the wood, and runs up one of the huge heavy pine trees without breaking her stride. She loves this, the wind rushing in her hair, roaring in her ears as she moves, invisible to everyone. No one can touch her.

She balances her way along one of the branches to the end, looking down at Damien and Ben. They are searching around for her, their eyes fixed in completely the wrong place. With a smile, she hurls the wood down so that it lands in front of the Cepan's feet, showering him with snow. Six appears to them, standing up on the high branch with her hands on her hips. So she's a show-off, sue her. She knows she's got awesome legacies, why not flaunt them? Damien looks up at her, smiling. "Very impressive, Six."

"You haven't seen the half of it yet," she flips from the tree, landing on her feet back on the ground easily and strolling back towards the two.

"You tire easy?" he asks her.

"No. The invisibility drains my energy the most out of all my legacies, but I can handle a lot before I wear out. In battle, I'm never constantly hidden, I just use it to gain a vantage point."

"And the elemental manipulation?"

"I barely use it in battle, unless I have to take out a lot of soldiers at once. It takes a lot more concentration then my other legacies," she gives the Cepan a shrug. "Most of the time, a dagger and a pistol are enough for me."

Damien nods his head. "Ben, you're turn."

Ben smiles at Six, holding up his own hand to the wooden planks before him, before saying, "you have no idea how hot what you just did was."

Six turns to watch the targets. "You have no idea how little that means to me," she replies back in a teasing voice, folding her arms. She watches the planks before her, and nothing happens for a long while. She looks from them to Ben, whose normally bright eyes are dark with concentration. Almost a minutes passes in complete silence, and still nothing. Just as Six opens her mouth to say something, all three wooden planks shatter into a million pieces with a loud _bang_, like a grenade had hit them. Snow and debris are flying everywhere, and as the mist cleared, Six saw there were just deep black holes in the snow were the wood had been. "How the hell did you…?" she begins, not bothering to hide her amazement from him.

Ben lowers his hand slowly, exhaling a long breath. "I can channel my telekinesis into kinetic energy, focus it on certain things."

"In short, Ben can turn any object into a live bomb, in a way. It's a dangerous legacy if you don't use it correctly. You're getting better, Five." Damien puts a hand on his shoulder. "Let's keep practicing. We've got an hour or so of good daylight left, we might as well make use of it."

"How are we supposed to combine our powers?" Six asks.

"I know that both of you have seen your share of Mogadorians and their weapons and _pets_, but in all honesty, they have got _masses _of additional weapons and tricks up their sleeves. The biggest asset you two have is Six's invisibility, it truly is such a rare legacy, and Ben, your strength will be able to knock out some of their strongest defense and offensive weapons, but getting to them is a problem… unless," he points to Six, "you hitch a ride along with her. If you can hide from the Mogadorians long enough, you can waltz right up to them and punch a hole straight through their defenses. Another important thing to know about Mogadorians is that they're _very_ militarized. They've got ranks, just like the human armies do. Scouts report to soldiers, soldiers to Commando's, Commando's to Generals, and so on and so forth. In every group, there is a leader, the Mogadorian who shouts the orders. If you locate this Mog, and take him out, picking off the others will be a walk in the park."

Six crosses her arms. "How can we find the leader? They all like the same ugly creatures to me."

"He's generally armed heavier then the other Mogadorians, but there's no hard or fast rule."

"Sounds promising," Ben grins.

"Now, if you do manage to spot the leader, you want to take him down fast and hard, do not give him a chance to get away," he motions Six closer. "Are you comfortable with flying through the air at an incredibly fast rate with a high chance of injury?"

"Please, I live for it," she smiles.

"Good. You have to let Ben pick you up."

"Wait, what?" Six shoots a look at a smirking Ben.

"You heard him, beautiful. Come on over," he holds his arms wide.

"Alright, say that shrub over there is the commando," Damien points to a bush a good 30 meters from where they're standing. "You want to get to him, take him out, but there's 6 soldiers standing in your way. You wanna know how to get passed them?"

"Kill them all?" Six asks.

"Or, you go invisible, and let Ben throw you straight at him. The commando won't even know what's hit him. One moment, he'll be alive, the next he'll be dead. You stay invisible, you can basically fly a dagger straight through that bastard's chest without him even knowing he's dead. Now, trail run. Make sure you roll out of the move, it couldn't snap your neck if you land incorrectly. But I've seen what you can do, and I guarantee you can do this."

Six walks over to Ben, giving him a stare. "You get grabby, and you're dead."

"Yes ma'am," he picks her up by the waist, his strong hands keeping her stable in the air. "You ready to fly?"

"I'm ready to get out of your arms," she says back.

"Alrighty…" Ben spins once, releasing Six like a rugby player passes a ball. Six goes hurtling through the air, and she disappears from sight. The shrub is coming at her so fast, and she barely has time to think. _Roll out of the move, right. _She folds herself forward, hitting the ground in a roll. It still feels like she's landed on concrete. She turns visible, spinning onto her feet. The velocity of her movement has her trip, landing with a crunch onto the shrub. For a moment, all she can do is lie there. "Owe…" she mumbles, lying flat on her back in the bush and snow.

"Whoo hoo!" Six lifts a head to see Ben jumping on the spot. "Six, that was awesome! I have a newfound respect for you. And that bail could have _totally _won America's Funniest Home Videos!" Damien slaps Ben upside his head.

"You alright, Six?"

She gets to her feet, walking back towards them. "Let's do it again," she says.

"Really?" the two guys raise their eyebrows.

"It's a decent move… I just need to stick the landing." She walks over to Ben, jumping lithely into his arms. "Ready?"

"Always…" he smiles at her.

_**Paradise, Ohio**_

I'm kind of freaking out.

Sarah and I both head inside after we leave the swing set, walking down the dimly lit hallway to my room. We are walking a foot apart from each other, and I feel almost guilty for some reason, like we were doing something wrong. When we reach my room, and I open the door gingerly, I realize my palms are sweating. I have no clue whether it's from excitement or fear, could be both, I guess. I had a pretty clear idea about what was going to happen between us inside, or what I _wanted_ to happen. If I were right, this would be my first time, so I presume I'm just suffering from your usual bout of nervousness. I didn't know if Sarah was a virgin, she might have done it with Mark before. This wasn't exactly the most appropriate time to ask her.

Once we're inside the room, and the door is locked behind me, the tension between her and I springs up again like an elastic band being pulled to it's breaking point. I turn on my heel to look at her.

Sarah's is sitting on the edge of the double bed, taking in her surroundings leisurely. The golden light of the setting sun outside is streaming through the blinds right onto her, and she is so gorgeous it hurts. I walk over and sit beside her, angling so that the only thing touching between us is our knees. She looks at me, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips, and lifts her hand to my face. I feel her thumb run over the cut on my hairline that I'd gotten back in the fight in London. It stings a little bit, and I wince. She notices, biting her bottom lip and flinching as well. I watch as her eyes scan over my face for any other scars or cuts, her fingers moving over my skin. '_She making sure I'm alright_,' I realize, and it makes me happy that she cares about me so much. I never thought a human could love me like she did.

Her thumb traces over my eyebrow, slides down my cheek and runs along my bottom lip, her eyes following it as it draws a path over my skin. The tension mounts, and my lungs feel heavy. I realize with a start that I'm breathing like I'd run marathon, and she's breathing much the same.

I think we both know we were about to step into unknown territory for a _whole_ lot of people.

I lean in, resting my forehead against hers again, shutting my eyes and listening to her shaky breaths, in and out. Her hands run from my cheeks to the side of my neck and back again, giving me goosebumps, making me shiver in exhilaration. My body was clearly sensitive to her touch, and as I run a hand down her bare arm, I see goosebumps appear on her skin beneath my touch. It makes me smile.

She releases a breath, her lips a breath from mine, and whispers, "I'm on fire, John…" The back of her hand slides down my cheek as she rocks slightly back and forth, driving me crazy. It gets to the point that if I don't kiss her I feel like I'm going to explode, and if I do I probably will. She dips her head, pulling me into her embrace with her hands behind my neck. This kiss isn't anything like the others we have shared before. A year's worth of want and need and love comes rushing from me immediately, and I bend into her hungrily, my hands running down her sides, up her back, finally resting on her hips as I pull her closer still. She responds just as eagerly as me, and suddenly all the fear and anxiety that I had been feeling about us and this moment is gone. My love was in my arms. Sarah was here, finally, after an entire year of waiting and wishing and hoping. There was nothing keeping us apart now.

I'm desperate to feel her skin on mine, and I look down to see her hands already unbuttoning my shirt. She is not fast enough though, and I pause, tearing my shirt apart roughly. Buttons go flying but I could care less. I break off our kiss just long enough to pull her tee up over her head, tossing it over my shoulder. It lands in a heap in the corner. We join together again, both of us smiling against each other as we go falling back onto the motel bed with a squeak of springs. For a while, there is no sound but us kissing. I tear my lips from hers so I can taste her neck for the first time, bracing myself on either side of her on my arms. She's breathless, so am I as her hands tickle my bare back, driving me wild. I move my mouth to her collarbone, running my lips across to her smooth shoulder blade. She moans, I feel her nails dig into my skin. I lift up head from her shoulder, and she follows me up, claiming my mouth again. Things heat up, I'm about to explode, and then she drops away.

"John, stop."

For a moment, I can't hear her, I'm so caught up in the taste of her lips. She kisses me back once, twice, and then pulls away again. "John stop, we have to stop," she whispers again breathlessly. She puts a hand to my chest, pushing me up.

I lift my head immediately. "What is it, am I hurting you?" She shakes her head, but her eyes go distant, and she begins gasping, moving.

I panic, laying a hand on her cheek. "Sarah… Sarah!" She lies there, but it's like she's not even in the room with me anymore. I say her name again, tilting her face up by her chin. _What the hell was going on? _

10 heart stopping seconds later, her eyes came alive again, and she blinks a few times like she's adjusting to her surroundings. I roll off of her to the side, sitting up on my knees. "What happened?" I demand, running my hand over her cheek frantically. "Are you okay?"

Sarah's eyes were wide in amazement, and she smiles up at me. "John, I saw something."

"You saw something?" _What the hell_, I think. "What did you see?"

She props herself up on her elbows, her eyes fixed to mine. "I saw stars."

_AN: I know I might get flamed for that last bit, buts what's the point of an alien/human relationship if you can't have a bit of fun with it. Let me know what you think : ) _


	11. Chapter 11

"_So, run me this through again_?" Six said on the other end of the phone line, and there was clear amusement saturating her words. I shot a look at the bathroom door, but I could still hear the shower water running and steam coming out from under the door. Sarah wouldn't be able to hear my conversation, thank goodness. I continue talking in an anxious whisper. "We were, uh, Sarah was… I mean…"

"_Were you two in the middle of sex, was it straight after? Just give me the scope, John, you're a big boy."_

"We hadn't done anything. We were just kissing."

"_Whew! Well done, soldier."_

"Six, can you just be serious for like 2 seconds?"

She laughs. _"Alright, alright. So you two were making out, and then…"_

I squeeze my eyes shut, shaking my head in disbelief. "Sarah had a vision," I say finally.

"_She had a vision? That's a bit off."_

"You think!"

"_Well, what did she see?"_

I move to the window, looking out at the night sky. "She said she saw… stars."

"_Stars._" Six pauses, thinking for a moment._ "Are you sure its not some pre-sex emotion? Some people see stars, some see fireworks..."_

"It's not some adolescent hormonal crap, Six. This is serious." I rest my head on the windowpane, exhaling a heavy breath. "She saw Lorien."

There's a long pause on the line, as Six is no doubt mulling the thought over like I did. Finally, she asked,_ "How'd you get to that conclusion?" _

"She explained what she saw to me. The Milky Way, the swirl of the Lorien constellation, the brightest star fifth from the middle. She told me she saw a lake, crystal blue, and a massive waterfall. People jumping off it…"

"_Oh my God_," Six says slowly. _"I remember that. I saw it when I got my first Legacy."_

"I know. So did I." I take a seat on the edge of the bed. "I don't know why she saw that, Six. I didn't even think humans could _have_ visions, Henri never spoke of that happening, or it even being possible at all. Hell, it could be dangerous, and I have no freakin' idea!"

"_I honestly couldn't tell you if it were dangerous or not, John. My Cepan never said anything to me about us being able to give human's visions either. It could just be a reaction to the situation, I guess. Did anything happen to you… that doesn't involve parts of your anatomy?"_

I grimace, "I didn't have a vision, if that's what you mean."

"_Wait, hold on, Damien just came back from town, I'll ask him." _

"No, wait don't…" but it was too late. I could hear Six talking loudly in the background. Sure I was worried about what had happened with Sarah, but it had been hard enough sharing this… _problem_ with Six and I didn't really want my sex life being the topic of conversation between my friends. Too late.

'_John just tried to have sex with his girlfriend and she had vision, he wants to know what's up_.' Way to be discreet about it, Six.

"_John?" _It's Damien's voice now, and I answer him rather reluctantly. "Yeah, I'm here."

"_First things first, there is nothing dangerous about Sarah having had a vision." _I exhale in relief as a weight lifts off my chest at the Cepan's words. Panic, however, was quickly being replaced by curiosity._ "When a Lorien formed a bond back on our planet with their partner, it wasn't uncommon for couples to share memories between one another. It is just one way that helps us form a union of ultimate trust and respect."_

"But how is it happening to Sarah? She's a human."

"_And you are a Lorien, John. You are in love with this girl, and she is in love with you. The bond is simply being formed, albeit not to the same extent as between two of our own kind. When emotions are high, and tension and ardor are present, that's when your partner will experience some of_ _you're memories, share your emotions, which is why Sarah had that vision before, when you two were about to get intimate. She will be perfectly alright though, you have nothing to worry about. Sharing memories between a Lorien and human has happened a few times in our history, and there have been no side effects to the Lorien or human involved." _

I run a hand through my already messed hair. "Henri told me we couldn't love a human like we could love a Lorien."

"_Your Cepan was right in a way. A Lorien bond is substantially more powerful, and if you ever experience one, you will know and feel the difference. However, for Sarah, being in a relationship with a human will be incomparable to her one with you. Different degrees of emotion, you see. Our race tend to bring out intense emotions in humans. You have to remember, always remember, that no matter how much you want to be, how much you feel sometimes, you are not human, John. And she is."_

I look to the ground as Damien's words sink in. "Do I, well, will I see her memories like she can see mine?"

"_No." _For some reason I feel disappointment over his reply._ "It only goes one way with Lorien/human relationships." _

The water turns off, and I hear the shower door shut. "I have to go, but thank you Damien."

"_Let me know if anything else troubles you. And John, be careful. I thought looking after Five was hard enough. I've got 4 of you to watch now. Don't make my job anymore difficult then it is, John. Keep your head down, keep out of sight." _I almost smile, Damien was sounding a lot like Henri. I agree, and say goodbye.

I snap my phone shut just as Sarah walks from the bathroom. Her skin is still damp from the shower water, and she's wearing a simple gray T-shirt, and a pair of my boxer shorts I'd packed that she'd nicked without me realizing. Her blonde hair is falling over her shoulders, wetting the material underneath and I drink the sight of her in like a man trapped in the desert. She walks to the small desk where her phone is, and flips it open, her fingers tapping over the keypad. I wonder for a moment how it is possible to love someone so strong the sight of them makes your knees go weak.

"What are you doing?" I ask her.

"Just texting mom," she replies without looking over. "By now she's definitely realized I've taken off. Spring Carnival would've been over hours ago."

"What are you going to tell her?"

"That I'm at Emily's."

"And Emily thinks that…"

"…I'm with Jason Hammond, this hot college guy I met last month while volunteering at the animal shelter. She'll cover for me, no problem. She likes Jason, he's mysterious. Mysterious guys are sexy to girls," Sarah grins mischievously, looking over to me. "You alright?" she asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, I'm fine," I stammer out. My brain immediately starts screaming 'Look away, look somewhere else, to the TV, the tree, the TV, the friggin rubbish bin.' But my eyes tell my brain to go to hell, and stay locked on her figure, gazing over the curve of her waist up to her face. I stand up from the, walking over to her tentatively. She seems far less anxious then me, and goes to the tips of her toes, pressing her lips to mine. The kiss is short but sweet all the same, and she tastes like raspberry. Her scent is driving me crazy, but I wait for the tension to pass. "Are you alright? You're head…?"

She laughs, falling back to her feet. "You know that's like the fiftieth time you've asked me that since it happened? I'm fine John, really."

"You had a vision," I state, folding my arms.

She moves passed me to the bed, sitting down cross-legged on the covers. "I know I did, but I really am fine. Granted, it was a bit weird _seeing_ a place I'd never been before while lying in a motel room bed in Ohio. But I guess it just comes with the territory of dating an alien."

"Yeah, that and risking your life," I add bitterly.

"John, it's not a big deal. When I found of who you were, or _what _you were, I knew this whole relationship," she gestures between us, "it wouldn't be a normal one. I think, in a way, I was kind of prepared, like something like this would happen eventually." I stare at her in amazement. She was telling the truth, and I feel like an idiot for not thinking about it too. Sarah gives me a small shrug. "If anything… I'm kind of disappointed."

"What do you mean?"

"Well…" She runs her hand along the duvet cover, her cheeks growing slightly red. "Before my _vision_, me and you were…uh… _going_ somewhere."

I lean against the wall behind me, nodding my head. "I think that's why you had the vision. Emotional overload."

"Yeah, I think it is too." She runs a hand through her hair, brushing it from her shoulder. "Well, I know it is. When you were kissing my neck, and your hands were running up my back, it felt so unbelievably incredible and then… I don't know. I kind of just…"

"Spaced?" I smile.

"Yeah. It was completely out of my control. I could feel _something_ happening, like seeing something in the distance and knowing it's coming closer." Sarah looks up at me and sighs. "I just hope that not every passionate moment we share is going to be interrupted with cut scenes from your home planet. As amazing as seeing where you come from is, the visions kind of a mood-killer."

I smile and walk over to her. "It won't be, I promise." I kiss her forehead, dropping beside her. The clock reads 1:42am, and as I watch Sarah I see her yawn, her eyes turn glassy. "How about we just… sleep?" I suggest. "I don't plan on leaving here for a few days. Besides, I've always wanted to know what it felt like falling asleep with you in my arms."

Sarah scoots back, and we shift about until we were laying on our sides, facing one another. I reach up and tuck a strand of her silky hair back, I'll never get sick of doing that. Her eyes shut, and I study her face, trying to remember every detail.

"I keep waiting to wake up," she mumbles in a heavy tired voice.

"So do I." I run my hand down her cheek, my thumb ending on her chin, exhaling. "I love you Sarah."

"You too." She opens her eyes, scoots forward until we're up against one another, and kisses me goodnight. I circle my arms around her slight frame, pulling her close. "Goodnight John."

"Goodnight." I sleep soundly for the first time in my entire life.

_**Montreal, Canada**_

Sam's in trouble.

Okay, not 'immediate danger of being pulverized by a 7-foot-Mog trouble', more like, 'losing the steely control of his emotions' trouble. Granted, he'd never been a stonewall, but in general, Sam liked to think that a lot of the time people didn't know what he was feeling. At school, it sure worked. All that bullying at the hands of Mark and those guy, everyday having a football thrown at your head, or a paint bomb in your locker, or just generally being pushed around, and he had only snapped once. It had been good practice for him, he had learnt to keep his emotions in check. Having an asshole for a step-dad helped him bury his emotions deep down as well. But now, a strong feeling was bursting from every inch of his skin and he was having trouble keeping it to himself.

Jealousy.

He was _insanely_ jealous of this new guy. If Sam had known what Number 5 was going to look like, and more importantly, who he was going to be _interested_ in, Sam would have spent every waking hour sabotaging their search for him. Okay, the fate of mankind was _slightly_ more important then how he felt about Six, but it still sucked watching the _new _Lorien shamelessly flirt with Six every chance he got. And it _really_ sucked seeing Six's cheeks grow red, and her duck away shyly to hide her blush.

It started about 2 days ago, which was the first day of their training in _combining_ powers, or whatever. They had been out there for hours, and both Five and Six came in afterward, tired and flustered and grinning at one another like naughty children. Sam _knew _he should have watched! He didn't know what went on out there, but it sure broke the ice between them. Ben told jokes and Six laughed at them, and not the condescending kind of laugh she reserved for most of Sam's jokes, but a real true laugh, where her eyes watered and she got a knot in her stomach. Ben wasn't even that funny, he thought angrily. Sam didn't get it! Sure, they had that whole 'last-remaining-members-of-their-race' thing going on for them. But Six and he had that whole 'tough-girl-wimpy-nerd' aspect too. They were kind of the same, right?

He needed to do something, he needed to tell her how he felt before Five swept in and stole her from him. He had never been a hit with the ladies… that whole Emily thing didn't really count. Some guys had it, and some guys didn't. Or some guys were like John, who was pretty antisocial but looked like he did, so girls didn't mind. Sam didn't really have the looks, he pretty much had to be completely verbal. Not like Ben. Friggin' Ben! The guy looked like one of those dudes on TV that advertise shaving cream or something, where they stand there shirtless and the ad's like, 'buy this shaving gel and turn into him' kind of thing. It didn't work!

So, in light of all the facts he'd picked up on, that day, Sam concocted a plan. Well, it was more of a 'corner Six in her room and tell her how he felt' kind of thing then a plan, but it was better then nothing and he had pretty much run out of both time and ideas. What's the worst that could happen? He gets rejected by the girl he might possibly potentially love? Yeah, that would sting a little… well, a lot, but he was pretty sure he could handle it. What he couldn't handle was standing back and letting another guy take her without a fight.

He tosses up the idea of calling John for advice. After all, this seems like the kind of situation where you ask you're best friend what he would do. But Sam had a feeling John would be a little busy at the moment, especially considering the conversation he'd heard John have with Six and Damien. John already _had_ the girl of his dreams, and probably didn't want to be disturbed. Sam was on his own for this one.

He spends most of the day working up the courage to confront her, but it isn't until dusk that an opportunity presents itself. Six is getting ready to go out with Five for some more training, but before she goes outside she heads into her room to grab a jacket. Sam sits on the couch, tapping a beat on his knee as he works up the courage to move from his seat. _Come on, you can do it, you can do it, you can do it_,' he thinks in a little mantra. He hears her footsteps moving back towards the door, and that's when Sam gets to his feet. He almost runs into her room, forcing her back in and shutting the door behind him. _No turning back now_, he thinks, staring the shut door before his eyes.

"Uh, Sam?" he turns to look at her. She's got her eyebrow raised, her arms resting on her hips. "What the hell are you doing?"

"We need to talk," he says immediately. Good start, good start…

"About what?"

All day, he'd been writing this speech out in his head about what he was going to say to her, filled with these awesome sayings about love and trust and friendship, straight out of a hallmark card kind of thing, but as he looks at her now, with her completely baffled and possibly pissed off expression, Sam's mind does a complete blank. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. Screw that, it was absolutely crazy, what the heck was he thinking? She was this amazingly beautiful kick-ass woman and he was a skinny geek! They didn't make sense, not in this universe or the next! "I'm waiting Sam…"

"You and me..." Is all his short-circuiting brain can come up with.

"You and me," Six repeats in a confused tone. "What about _you and me_ do you want to talk about?"

Sam starts pacing back and forth, with his mind screeching into action, shouting all these things for him to say all at once. "Uh… there's this thing… from the moment I saw you… Number 5 is all over you…" _Just pick one, dammit_, his brain screams. He takes a steady breath, shutting his eyes. "I like you Six. You know I like you, I'm pretty sure I made that clear from the moment I saw you in that classroom in Paradise."

Six cottons on to where he's going with his words, and shakes her head at him in dismissal. "I'm not interested in a relationship, with you or Ben or anyone. I'll leave all that to Four and his little girlfriend. This isn't some sweet teen novel where everyone falls in love and goes to the prom together, Sam."

"I know it's not. This is reality, where people die. And there is a very high chance that we will die, especially me with my gangly awkwardness and low muscle mass. I don't want to die without telling you how I feel," Sam can see Six is shutting off, her coping mechanism, he's quickly discovered with her. He won't let her get away with it this time. "Can we just talk about this?"

"Talk about _what? _I told you I'm not interested. Can we not just leave it at that?"

He shook his head in reply. "I know you feel something for me, Six. When we hang out, and joke, and laugh, there's _something_ there, I didn't just make it up. And I know you feel something for Ben too. And I'm sure he's a great guy, and he can make girls faint when he smiles at them, and he can probably bench-press me one-handed a thousand times without breaking a sweat, but he doesn't know you."

Six wants to leave, she doesn't want to deal with the consequences of Sam's conversation, but for some reason her feet stay planted to the ground. Six is finding herself surprisingly eager to hear what this new confident Sam has got to say to her.

"He doesn't know that every single night you go out onto the roof alone when you think everyone is asleep and you look up at the stars, rain or shine. Or that you secretly love watching the TV show 'Gossip Girl' but won't admit to it," she listens to him speak, and there's this odd feeling stirring in the pit of her stomach. "He doesn't know that you're scared to death of what's going to happen with this war, but you don't want anybody to know that because you think they might think less of you, or think you're weak or something like that. I will never ever think that about you, Six," Sam takes a step closer to her, and lifts his shaking hand to her cheek, his heart pounding in his ears. This was the first time she had let him touch her like this. Her skin is so much softer then he'd imagined, and warm. He always knew Loriens ran a higher body temperature then humans, but now he could feel it for himself. It almost made him shiver. He took a deep breath, and continued. "I know you are afraid to let anyone in close, because the only person you ever knew and loved was killed by the Mogs. I'm not going to leave you. Ever." He steps closer still, putting his other hand under her chin and tilting up her face to his. Her eyes are downward, but he keeps her there until finally, she looks at him her blue eyes burning into his.

"I'm going to kiss you now."

Sam tilts his head towards, swallowing his nervousness away. Her lips are a breath from his, and by some miracle she hasn't made a move to get away or punch him. Here goes nothing…

The door to Six's room open with a bang as Ben comes running in. Six reels back from Sam so fast she might has well have teleported. One second she was in his arms, the next she was standing on the other side of the room. "Damien's set up the best training course _ever,_ Six. You are going down big time!" He leaves the room, clearly unaware of what he'd just interrupted, and successfully destroying Sam's chances of ever kissing Six. The moments been shattered like glass, and she won't look him in the eye.

Sam goes to move to her, but passes him without a word, leaving him alone in her room. What the crap was he supposed to do now?

_**Volus, Greece**_

_A young girl is running. _

_Her feet are flying across the pavement so fast, it gave the appearance that she were not even touching the ground. The town was asleep at 3.43am, with the only light coming from the high street lamps lighting her path. The old fruit stalls were closed up, the streets deserted. No one would see her, no one would know what was happening. She can still hear their footsteps, heavy thuds like an unholy drumbeat pounding after her, counting down the seconds until she was caught. She doesn't understand what is happening, why they were after her. There were only 3 of her kind gone, 3 scars burnt up her calf. Her Cepan was clear when talking about the Charm. She was supposed to be protected, and the Mogadorians should know that they could not harm her, not until another 5 burns were added. She was the last! _

_Turning to look behind as she runs, she can still see them. The 3 heavy Mogadorians were charging after her, and nothing was going to stop them, just as nothing had stopped them from slaughtering her Cepan before her eyes. Her protector had only screamed one word, 'Run', before her life was stripped from her just has her planet had been. _

_She was not ready to be alone. _

_She ran on, her lungs starting to burn and her legs getting tired. She would not be able to keep this up much longer, but turning and fighting was hardly an option. She had not faced these Mogadorians at all before, let alone without her beloved Cepan by her side. _

_3 minutes on, she prayed for a help._

_10 minutes later, she prayed for a miracle_

_13 minutes, and all she could do was pray for a quick death. _

_The Mogadorians had cut her escape route off, and there were more now. Almost a dozen of them were making their way towards her in a circle, converging together. There was no escape anymore. One of them moved towards her quicker then the other, and there was something about the way it walked, she just _knew_ it was the leader. It barked orders to the others in a language she didn't recognize, and as it moved in close, it reached around to it's back. The distinctive sound of a sword being unsheathed echoed through her ears right down into her heart. _

_If this was it, like hell she was going down without a fight! _

_She focused her eyes on the oncoming Mogadorian, thinking back to the death of her Cepan not more then an hour ago. That Mog had killed her protector with the same blade, and it planned on doing the same to her. She cried, like the cry of a desperate soldier in battle, and she threw her hands out. Her telekineses hit the soldier like a concrete brick to the chest, and it flew backwards, knocking down a few of his comrades as he did. _

_She spun on her heel, meeting an oncoming Mogadorian with an uppercut beneath his chin. Her knuckle ached, but the satisfaction of seeing that Mog fall back far outweighed the pain. She threw her hand out to another, and water shot from her palm, hitting the soldier. As it did, the water dropped temperature rapidly, freezing the Mogadorian in a block of thick ice. She held her hand out to anothers fallen sword, and the weapon flew into her waiting hand. By the time the soldier broke free from his ice prison, she had made her way over, and with another cry, she stabbed the Mog straight through the heart. It's skin turned gray, and the Mog distigrated into ash, leaving her a little in shock. She had just killed. In her entire life, she had never killed anything before. Not even spiders, despite being petrified of them. She had always mustered up the courage to relocate the creeping insects. Now she'd just killed. _

_The Mogadorians came together towards her all at once, and she had fought and fought until she was exhausted. No matter how hard she moved, or threw or smashed a Mog, there was always another waiting for their turn to take her down. She was going to lose this battle. A Mog made it's way through, the leader, the Commander, and it took hold of her by the throat, lifting her plain off the ground and holding her high in the air. She struggled for breath, her hands peeling at the Mog in an attempt to lessen it's grip. The Mog held out a hand and said something, and another quickly moved towards him, handing him a blade. _

"_You… can't..hurt me," she struggled out, her feet kicking the air uselessly. It was true. The Charm would protect her, it wasn't even close to reaching her yet. _

_The Mogadorian sniffed, a long inhale as it took it her scent through the slits on either side of it's nose. "So beautiful," it said in English, before shaking it's head. "Shame." It took hold of her necklace, and the symbol lit up beneath it's hands, a blinding blue-white light. "Do you know what that means, girl?" She was losing conciousness, she couldn't breath his grip was so tight. "Would you like me to tell you?" it laughs a little. "It means that I can do a lot more then just hurt you." It's humored eyes turned dark, and with a hiss, he thrust the sword straight through the girls chest and out the other side._

_It was a risky move if it were wrong, and for a moment nothing happened. The girl feels the blade move through her, a wave of cold moving with it. And then a burn, all over her skin. A million voices are screaming in her ears. And then there's only silence. The Mog smiles as the girl disappears before his eyes, turning into dust. He is satisfied, undeinable so. "Send a message to all the settlements," he says. "The Charm has broken, the Loriens are joining up. This war has begun!"_


	12. Chapter 12

_AN: Alrighty, another Chapter up! Thanks heaps for the reviews and ideas sent through, I always consider all, and try and put most in :) Enjoy… hopefully. _

_**Paradise, Ohio**_

"_Do you hear me, I'm talking to you. Across the water, across the deep blue ocean, under the open sky, oh my, baby I'm trying…_" I stir awake from the sound of the words being sung. Sunlight is streaming though a gap in the tattered dark curtains of the motel room, the light hitting me straight in the eyes. I squint against it as I take in my surroundings. For a small moment I completely forget where I am, although it's not too surprising considering _most _of yesterday had been so amazing it could have very well been a dream. I yawn and stretch out, realizing the other side of the bed is unoccupied. I look up to see Sarah across the room, standing in front of the bathroom mirror putting on make up. She hasn't realized I've woken up yet. If she did, she would probably stop singing. _"Boy I hear you, in my dreams, I feel you whisper, across the sea, I keep you with me, in my heart, you make it easier, when life gets hard…" _She's swaying a little as she puts on eyeliner, a smile on playing on her lips as she continued_. "Lucky I'm in love with my best friend, lucky to have been where I have been, lucky to be coming home again…" _she hums a few bars, and I could honestly lie there forever and listen to her. She had such a beautiful voice, it was soft and mellow and sweet. "_They don't know how long it takes, waiting for a love like this. Every time we say goodbye, I wish we had one more kiss. I'll wait for you, I promise you, I will…" _She snaps her makeup bag shut and turns away from the mirror to see that I'm sitting up against the headboard with my arms crossed, grinning at her. "You weren't awake a minute ago by any chance, were you?" she asks with a tilt of her head, leaning against the doorframe and putting her hands on her hips.

"So you _did_ hear me across the water?" I joke to her.

She drops her head in her hands, and her cheeks go red with embarrassment. "Oh god…"

I laugh. "What's the matter? You have an amazing voice, Sarah. You know, just when I thought you weren't perfect enough, you have to go and do that. Now I feel even more inadequate then before."

"That songs reminds me of you…" she walks over to me, falling onto the covers on the bed and kissing me good morning. I savor the taste of her as her lips move against mine and her hands pull me closer. I feel my cheeks grow warm, and I have to pull away before I lose control and we pick things up where we had left off last night. She leans her cheek on my chest, her arms linked around me. "Do you know that you snore?"

"No way," I say back immediately. "Aliens can't snore."

"Well then, you must be a human," she replies. She moves her lips to my neck, pressing soft quick butterfly kisses from my jaw line all the way to my shoulder blade. She really wasn't making this easy for me. I didn't want to take things any further with us until I could find more out from Damien about Cepan/Human relations, but having her straddling my waist while she kissed my neck… _complicated_ things. "Did you really like my singing…?" she whispered seductively in my ear.

"Uh huh…" I struggle to keep my mind from going fuzzy. "Do I really snore…?" I tilt my head back so I can look into her eyes.

She nods her head, "No."

We both laugh, and I cup her face in my hands, locking our mouths together once more. I would never get tired of kissing this girl, I think, as we fall back on to the bed. Never. I pull back just long enough to look down my nose at her. "We should go for a drive."

"Why?"

I run my finger up and down her arm. "As much as I'd love staying with you in this crappy motel room for the rest of my life, I think a little bit of fresh air will do us some good, you know? Help us clear our heads…" Help me cool off, I add to myself.

"What if I don't want to clear my head?" she pulls my face down to hers, and I feel her tongue run along my bottom lip. Holy hell, this girl was going to drive me insane! I shift back, banging my head on the headboard. "I really _really _think we should go for a drive…"

She smiles knowingly, getting up from her place. "Alright. Let's go, then."

_**15 minutes later**_

"What was your first pet?"

"Missy. She was this ancient cat my parents had for, like, a decade before I was born. You?"

"Bernie. Best pet ever! Dog is truly man and alien's best friend." She laughs, and I fall in love with her even more. "First time you got detention?"

"What makes you think I've been in detention?" she asks me. I raise my eyebrow at her knowingly. "Okay fine, I skipped school with Emily to go shopping, hardly anything. Have you ever been in detention before?"

"Got caught cheating on a test." She opens her mouth in mock shock, and I nod my head once. "Not my finest hour. Henri grilled me for weeks afterward… um, first person you ever had a crush on?"

"Hmmm," Sarah thinks seriously for a moment, an eyebrow tilted up in thought. "Oooh, got it. Jake Ryan,_ Sixteen Candles_. Although, I'm pretty sure that was the first crush for 70% of girls my age."

"Who in the heck is Jake Ryan?"

"He's the hot senior from _Sixteen Candles_. You know, dreamy, mature, rich. What about yours?"

My cheeks go red unwillingly. "I don't want to say."

"What? Are we changing the rules all of a sudden? You have to answer, or pay a forfeit of my choice," she teases me. I'm almost tempted to give up just so I can find out what her forfeit is, but then I remember what I planned for _her_ when I win. "Okay, fine, but you can't judge me, alright?" She nods her head. "Ms. Finch in primary school," I say quickly.

"A teacher?" Sarah demands. "Ewwww!"

"Hey, what happened to not judging me?" I remind her. "Plus, Ms. Finch was nice. She always smiled at me and she stopped Rory Blanc from stealing my lunch money. I was kind of a scrawny kid," I say it fast, like a confession, and Sarah just smiles at me. "My turn… who was your first kiss?"

"Uh… 3rd grade, Isaac Peters behind the gym for a dare. He wasn't as good as you," Sarah teased. "What about yours?"

"Hmmm, I can't _really_ remember. It was with some chick at this carnival after we'd been on this really budget as Halloween ride," her eyes light up as I continue on. "But it wasn't anything _too_ spectacular, and I didn't fall in love with her or anything crazy like that."

"Is that right?"

Her and me are sitting in the tray of my pick-up on a blanket, noodle boxes and chopsticks between us. I'd driven a fair bit down the road to a small clearing that leads into a lake. It's just getting dark now, and the temperature is dropping rapidly. We'd spent the day in the motel room, talking about anything and everything, kissing occasionally… well, kissing a lot, but never going further then that. I think I'm a bit too cautious now about the whole sex thing.

Sarah seems a lot more okay with it then me.

It's kind of the reason I wanted to get out of that room. Until I knew a little more about a Lorien/human relationship, the sharing of memories and stuff, I didn't want to take that step yet. But my resolve was quickly faltering seeing Sarah on that bed in one of my Tee shirts, her hair all ruffled and natural from sleep, her eyes soft and heavy, her lips shiny from her raspberry chapstick… I shake myself back to reality. I seriously had a problem with daydreaming.

"I was your first kiss? I would have thought you'd have been with a few girls before me."

"Why's that?"

She gave me a shrug. "I don't really know. I guess, because you're so amazing. And you are undeniably good at kissing. Girls around the places you went must have been crazy. There was nobody?"

I think back to all the town and schools I'd been to with Henri. "Henri always warned me about forming friendships with people. It makes leaving harder. So no, there were no other girls."

"How come you let me in, then?"

"I didn't have a choice," I smile. "I couldn't_ not_ love you if I tried, and I did try."

Sarah reaches up, running her forefinger down my cheek in the way she usually did. I was getting addicted to her touch. "You know, the moment I saw you in the admin office at high school, and looked into your eyes, I kind of spaced out. Despite the fact I was getting grilled by Principal Shelfied about those pictures I took of Mr. Russell, all I could think about was you."

"I thought you weren't interested in me. You kind of seemed a bit off when you were asked to show me around."

"Yeah, I know. I honestly didn't know what to think of you when we first met. I had this immediate feeling that if I wasn't careful around you, or on my guard, then you'd just sweep me off my feet. And I didn't know if you were going to turn out to be an idiot like every other guy at high school. When I saw you stick up for Sam when Mark was being an ass, I knew you were different. I liked you then. Even though I was sure you were lying about your name."

"I was, in a way."

"What is your name, John? You're real name?"

"I wish I knew. Henri never told me, and I don't have any memories of my grandparents calling me anything." I look up at the deep purple sky, where stars are beginning to appear one by one. "It doesn't matter. John is who I am, it's who I want to be. Everything that mattered in my entire life happened while I was John Smith."

"I like John," she reaches over and takes my hand, interlinking our fingers.

I look into her amazing eyes, and reach over to rest a hand on her neck. "Sarah, I want you to…" My words get cut off, my mind goes blank. And then I start screaming…

_**Montreal, Canada**_

_It didn't mean anything._

_Of course it meant something! He was going to kiss you, and you were going to let him._

_No I wasn't._

_Yes, you were. You wanted him to kiss you._

_No I didn't._

_Yes, you did. You wanted to know what it felt like. You've always wanted to know what it would feel like to kiss him._

Six trudged through the woods, her boots digging deep into the snow, crushing sticks and twigs as her inner voices argued back and forth about what Sam had just done. Bernie was hopping around in the snow ahead of her happily, digging his nose deep and shuffling it around. The Chimera was clearly enjoying life on this world. Six wished she could say the same.

Life was much simpler as a dog.

She marched forward aimlessly, moving on auto-pilot, until she came across a fallen tree. She moved to it, sitting down on one of the heavy branches, and resuming her train of thought. She had never been good at all this emotional touchy-feely stuff. The only person she'd ever loved was Katerina, and even then, that relationship was more a mentor/student kind of bond then a mother/daughter one. The pain of seeing her Cepan murdered before her eyes had crushed Six so deep down within herself that she had embarked on her mission with a steely determination that she would never allow herself to be so compromised again, and she fought so violently that her antics bordered on the suicidal. Her legacy powers increased ten-fold after her Cepan's murder, since the grief and anger was like fire in her bones.

She can't imagine what it would feel like losing somebody she truly fell in love with, especially hearing how deeply a Lorien _could_ love. If losing Katerina made her how she was today, then losing her partner would definitely push her over to edge.

Six was pretty confident that a person could actively stop themselves from falling in love with somebody if you focused hard enough. They were just emotions, after all, and she had learnt long ago to bury her feelings so deep that she could no longer feel anything at all. She was numb to a lot things now. Strong attachments weren't the smartest things to cultivate when approaching a world-wide conflict. The Mogadorians were vile, hateful strategist who would use anything and everything against their enemies. Being attached to somebody made you venerable, weak, open to blackmail, held hostage at the ransom of a loved one. Six knew if push came to shove, the only person in this battle she would need to worry or look out for was herself. Some people would call her selfish but she wasn't.

Maybe she would have _liked_ to share a bond with a man someday, and curl up beside somebody else in her freezing bed at night, and have him there when she needed him, in that boyfriend kind-of-way. But she had enough sense to hold out for the right time. She was perfectly happy to do so before Sam and Ben had walked into her life!

Six drops her face into her hands with a moan, thinking back to Sam's confession in her bedroom. He had made a strong argument, and all those things he'd said about her… he knew her so well without her having to tell him or explain to him why she did some of the things she did. And she was so sure she'd had hidden her inner 'Gossip Girl fetish' from humanity so well! Guess not. He had been so different in that room, calm and confident, even a little bit, dare she say it, sexy the way he took control like that.

And then there was Ben, Number Five, another Lorien like herself. There was the draw card.

Ben would understand her in ways Sam couldn't, no matter how hard he tried to, no matter how much she wanted him to know her. Five felt the pressure Six did, he understood the weight that had been put unfairly on their shoulders…

Ben, who's smile made her blush uncontrollably, and get those irritating butterflies in her stomach.

Ben, who looked like he'd just stepped off a Hollywood movie set, with strong muscles beneath tan skin that would put any guy to shame.

Ben… who at this moment was walking through the trees right towards her.

Six stands up quickly, her eyes wide. "How did you find me?"

He smiles, pointing down to the huge footprints she and Bernie had left behind. "I'm pretty but I'm not stupid," he jokes. "What are you doing out here being all 'lone ranger in the wilderness' anyway? Damien almost blew a fuse, he was flying around the cabin like a mad man."

"Living in a cabin with three guys can get to a girl. I just needed some time to think."

"About?" he crosses his arms, leaning casually on a tree beside him.

"Stuff." The trees all creak and moan as a heavy gust of wind blows through them, and the two get showered with deep green pine needles. She looks around at her picturesque surroundings, giving a sigh. "You know, this place is not bad, if you take the time to look."

"I think it's beautiful," Ben replies immediately, taking a step towards Six. "You know, Damien said that our race doesn't believe in chance, he says everything happens for a reason. Apparently Loriens are huge believers in Fate."

Six kind of had an idea of where he was going with this conversation, and she wasn't in the mood for another confession of love. "So our race was fated to die at the hands of the Mogadorians?" she asks. "Screw that. I don't believe in fate, I don't believe in chance. Our destiny is in our own hands, and there is _no_ way I'm going to let some unseen force play around with my future. Fate is for fools and people who are too weak to take control of their own lives."

"Do you really believe that?" He steps towards her. "We haven't known each other for long…"

"Yeah, try 3 days," Six cuts in.

"And in those 3 days, I've already figured out that you're the most emotionally stunted person around… and I live with Damien!"

"God, you're an asshole."

"Wait, let me finish! You're emotionally stunted, but you're also deeply passionate about things. When I watch you train, it's like you're eyes are burning, and I can almost feel how you're feeling."

"Five… I don't want to do this with you, alright? I don't want to be with you, or Sam, or Damien, or John, or any other guy on this planet or the next. All I want to do… all I _need_ to do, is fight, and kill, and win. I'm a horrible person, okay, trust me, you do not want to get close to me, I'm a mess." She spoke fast, and it was probably to most honest thing she'd ever told anybody before.

"You're not a bad person, Six."

"Yes, I am. You don't know what I've done."

"I don't care what you've done," he said right back. He reaches up with a hand, closing the gap between them. He was different to Sam in the way he touched her. Sam's hand was shaking like a leaf in the wind, and his hand had been freezing against her warm skin. Ben's skin on her cheek was hot to the touch, she could almost feel it all the way to her toes. He starts to lean in, and for the second time that day, Six's feet stay put like roots, and her eyelids flutter shut. Thats when it hits them.

It happens at exactly the same time for both. One moment, Six and Five are standing there close, and then the next moment, both are collapsed to their knees, crying out in anguish. Six's clothes are getting soaked, her ordinarily warm skin is freezing, but all she feels is pain. There's screaming in her head, a high-pitched cry that's so shrill it could break glass. It echoes, doubles over itself, crying again and again for help.

She pushes her hands over her ears, trying to lessen the sound but it's still ever present. It feels like it's drilling the back of her eyes, and she starts seeing spots in her vision. Vaguely, she can make out Ben writhing on the ground, his face twisted in agony. _What the hell is happening_?

_**Paradise, Ohio**_

I squeeze my eyes shut, rocking back and forth. Vaguely, I can hear Sarah screaming out my name, but I can't focus on comforting her. All I can think of is hurt. My vision starts to blur, spinning sickeningly, and a scene fades into my line of sight. I can see a Mogadorian holding a girl up by her throat and I know what going to happen, what's about to happen, but all I can do is watch as the Mog stabs the girl straight through the chest. I can almost feel the blade slip through my own body, and my lungs are burning. She disappears in a gust of wind, nothing but dust remains of her. I can hear the girl in my head, her cries for help, and her sobs of pain.

And then I'm back. Sarah has my face cupped in her hands, and her cheeks are wet with tears that keep on streaming. "John! What happened! Are you okay?"

I brush her off, my attention focused on pulling up the pant leg of my jeans. My head is throbbing still, but it's lessening with each passing second that goes by. I tear my jeans up, my hand shaking.

Something isn't making sense.

There is no light coming from my leg, there is no symbol burnt into my skin. The three scars of the Loriens passed remain there, but there is no forth. I saw this girl die, watched the Mogadorian kill her, there should be a scar, right? I turn to look at my girlfriend, who's face is still stricken. "It's okay…" I begin to say, shifting closer. Sarah shies from my touch.

"John, you started screaming. God, I thought you'd been shot or something! What happened?"

I take a breath, digging my eyes with the heel of my hands. "I don't know. I honestly don't, Sarah. One second, I was fine, and then it was like the worst pain in the world came over me, and I couldn't stop it…"

"Has it got something to do with the others?" she asks.

"Yes," that was for sure. But what exactly happened was a mystery. Maybe the whole scar thing was a way of letting the other Loriens know that another had died, so they knew how much time they had. Now that the Charm was broken, it would make sense that the scarring thing didn't work either. But I wasn't convinced… I had heard this girls cries for help, even after she had been killed. Even now… it was like she needed my help. I need to go back to the others and sort it out. Hopefully Damien would now what to do.

As I look over at Sarah, I know that she can tell what I'm thinking, where my mind is heading. I have to leave her again. Silently, she moves towards me, and I wrap my arms around her tight. "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry," I mumble again and again, holding her tight as her body shakes with sobs. We both knew it was going to happen… but it didn't make the parting any less excruciating.

_**2 hours before**__ – __**Volus, Greece**_

_The girl knew what she needed to do, the only thing she could do in this situation, but only time if she was strong enough to pull it off. Her Cepan had put the pressure on her in training, and now was the time to see if it was worth it. She could barely breathe, the Mog's grip around her throat was so tight, so concentration was made a whole lot more difficult. Mentally, she can hear her Cepan's voice, '_You have no idea what you're capable of…' _She shot a look around, mentally counting up how many Mog's there were. 9… that was 4 more then she'd ever done this to before. _

_But judging from her predicament, she didn't have much of a choice._

_The Mog pulled his sword back, and just before he thrust it towards her, she entered it's mind, and the minds of the surrounding Mogs. _

_Her main legacy, the first she had inherited, was the ability to enter the minds of anyone or thing, and make them see things that weren't happening. She could project images that were so clear and crisp that they replaced their reality for a short time. She was an illusionist in the truest sense of the word. Straight away, pain sprang up as the pressure of projecting an image to 9 different minds hit her. She didn't have much time. _

_She tore the Commander's hand from her throat, but his sword still hit her shoulder as she fell, a dangerous blow but a lot less fatal then where he would have gotten if he had his way. _

_She dropped to the ground in a heap, but kept her focus on projecting her death to the Mog's. It was a pretty morbid thing to see as her own self disintegrated into dust in the Mog's hand, but the Mog's were clearly unaware of what was really happening. She got to her feet, holding a hand to the stab wound to try and stop the bleeding. If even a drop fell, they would figure out what had happened and search for her. She half ran/half limped into the darkness, her hold over the Mog's disappearing as she moved further away._

_A fair bit away, she could hear the Mog's celebrating at the destruction of yet another Lorien. One thing was for certain… the Charm had indeed been broken, which means at least two of the other Loriens were together. It gave her a shred of hope, something she desperately needed considering the blood that was pouring from her shoulder, weakening her with each passing second. In her mind, she screamed for help to the others, praying somewhere, somehow, the bond they shared would lead them to her. _

_It was all she could do. Number Nine sprinted away through the darkness._

_AN: Review me, let me know what you think. _

_A special thanks to __**'Forcystus5 & Nocturna Termina' **__for your ideas!_

_Also, in case any of you are interested, I haven't thought up a name or an appearance for Number Nine, yet, other then the fact that she's a girl. I'm keen for any suggestions on what you think she should be. Later!_


	13. Chapter 13

_AN: Alright, first things first. Thanks SOOOOO much for all the reviews, they were awesome. I'm pretty sure the last chapter got the most review so far, so yay for me! This chapters a little shorter then the others, but I hope you guys like it anyway:)_

**CHAPTER TWELVE**

'_Come on, Ben, just one foot in front of the other, left foot, right foot, left foot, right… bloody hell, my head is killing me! _Five stumbled through the snow, one hand pressed hard to his forehead, while his other clasped Six's hand tightly as he led the way back to their cabin. They were both bewildered after what just happened, and navigating back to the cabin had now turned into the most intricate task he'd ever undertaken. Everything looked the same to him, a mass of white and green, hazy through the pain that continued to rage through him. In his head, the screaming was still present, echoing like the most unholiest song ever made. He turned to look back at Six, asking, "You all right…?" but the girl didn't reply. Her normally stoic features were twisted and contorted in agony, and Five gave her hand a little squeeze. "We're almost there, Six." He had no idea what the hell was happening to them, but what he _did_ know was that his head was throbbing like he'd been sledge-hammered in the temple, and that Six was feeling much the same. At last, he saw the cabin come into view, and he gave a sign of relief. For a moment there, he'd honestly thought that he was in for an icy and rather anti-climatic death in the wilderness. "Home sweet home." He opened the door.

Damien stood from the table so fast the chair toppled beneath him. "What the hell happened?" he demanded as he took the two Lorien's appearances in. Both appeared incredibly exhausted, and Five was grimacing in pain. He looked like he'd just come out of a hurricane. Six looked even worse than he. The Cepan could see no injuries or blood on either, leaving him utterly confused.

"I was hoping you'd tell me! One second we were fine, and then the next, there was this wicked screeching going on in my head, in both of our heads. It's still going, a bit fainter… God, it sounds like nails on a friggin' blackboard! It's got something to do with another Lorien," Ben guided Six into a chair at the table, and he dropped into a crouch in before her. He ran his eyes over her appearance, and then reached up to brush her hair from her face. "Are you alright?" he asked in a quiet voice, oblivious for that small moment to anything else going on around him. She looks him in the eye, and nods her head once. That's enough for him.

"You've got another scar?" Damien asked.

Ben shook his head, standing up slowly. "No scar, no light, nothing like what happened when the first three died. But I had a vision, Six and I both did. It was a young girl, and the Mog stabbed clean through her, I saw her disintegrate and everything. Why didn't we get a scar, Damien?"

"You didn't get a scar because the Lorien wasn't killed, there's no doubt in my mind about that," the Cepan replied simply. "Tell me exactly what you saw, Ben. Every detail." Five started pacing around with his fingers drawing circles over his temples. Even _thinking_ hurt his brain now. Whatever had happened was still going on, he could still hear cries for help. "Ben!"

"I saw this girl getting killed by a Mog, she was surrounded by at least half a dozen others."

"And you _saw_ her get stabbed…?" Damien asked curiously.

"Yes. She was being held up by her throat, that asshole stabbed her straight through and she disappeared."

Damien held the bridge of his nose with two fingers, his eyes squeezed shut in thought. "But no scar?"

"No scar."

Six finally spoke up, looking at the Cepan with burning eyes. "Damien, what does this mean?" She leans her head back, taking a deep breath. "It was like she was screaming for help, like she's _still_ calling for help." Five nods his head in agreement, and both Lorien's turn to the Cepan for an answer.

Damien had an idea of what was going on, but he couldn't be certain unless they tracked her down. Some of their people, though the number was _very_ few, could project images, thoughts, even full scenes into the minds of others. Only one of the Lorien Elders had this power, and his only daughter had been one of the Nine sent to Earth. There was a chance that this girl that Ben and Six had seen getting killed was that Elder's daughter, and she had inherited the same legacy from her father. There was a possibility, however small, that this girl had used her legacy, and the other Loriens were picking up on what she projected somehow. There were still so many things Damien had to learn about his people and their capabilities.

"We're waiting," Ben prompted.

He took a deep breath, his mind working out the simplest way of an explanation. "Our species is a very empathic one compared to humans. We are able to feel stronger degrees of emotion, love, anger, passion… we can also sense how others a feeling, to a certain degree, especially when you're close to another being. You nine share a bond, built deep in your genetic line. It's one all Lorien's share with one another, and it's possible that this girl has been injured, wounded terribly, enough for you two to feel a small degree of what she is."

"What about the vision?" Six demands. "We both saw her die!"

"I honestly can't tell you. There could be a hundred different reasons why you saw what you saw. We need to focus on what's important now," he looks at both, his gaze dark. "There is one of you out there, and they're hurt and in danger. There's no scar yet, and we want to keep it that way. I'll be damned if I let the Mogadorians kill another one of us!"

Ben asks, "How are we going to find her?"

"She's in Greece," Six replies, tiredly. The tracking stone told her that much, but where she was in Greece was an entirely different matter.

"How about we…"

The door to the cabin opens a second time and Sam comes trudging in from the snow. He's in a heavy pair of pants and huge snow jacket, a red beanie pulled right over his ears, and there's a bundle of material in his hands. "I found a beaver!" he announced, kicking the door shut behind him. The three Loriens all stared back in absolute confusion, awaiting an explanation from the human. "I was out walking…" _not_ trying to find Six, "and it just limped out in front of me. I think something attacked it."

"And you brought it here because…" Damien asked.

"I thought we could nurse it back to life. You save the world one way, I save it another. Besides… it's really cute," Sam looked down at the tired creature in his arms. "Anyway… what were you guys talking about?"

"We were talking about how we're going to have to go to Greece and track down another Lorien who could possibly be dying."

"Wait, what?"

Six turns to Damien, ignoring Sam's confusion. "We need to get Four back here now," she says simply. "We don't have a lot of time."

"I'll call him," Sam says, laying the beaver on the couch carefully. "Bernie, do no eat it, okay! No eating the beaver," Sam digs his mobile from his pocket and heads into his room. Six walks to the small woodland creature, looking it over. It doesn't look good for the beaver, who's clearly been attacked by a predator out there. For some reason, this upsets her a lot more then it should. Seriously, it was just a beaver. Damien is starting to pack up their things, calling the cabin owners to tell them that they were taking off early due to a family emergency.

"Are you okay, Six?" Ben comes to her side, crouching down beside her.

She goes to nod her head, and tell him to leave her alone. Instead, she gives it one small shake, and she can feel her eyes grow teary. "I'm scared," she sniffs back her sadness, "I don't want her to die… it's our fault if she dies. We're together, you, John and I… we're the reason the Mogs could do what they did to her." She feels Ben's hand on her back, rubbing up and down. "And then Sam has to go bring this damn beaver here!" Ben laughs, shaking his head.

"He's a good guy, Sam. Not many humans would do what he's doing."

"I know."

"Any guy that saves a beaver is okay in my book," Ben puts a hand on the creature for a moment, feeling it's little chest rise and fall. It's little heartbeat thumbs against his palm, and it makes him smile. As long as something had a heartbeat, there was always a chance. Suddenly, the beaver leapt from the sheets, startling both Loriens so that they fell to their backs in fright. It was ironic that this creature had their hearts beating rapidly, but facing a Mog was a walk in the park. "Holy hell!" Ben quickly scrambled to the door and opened it, letting the clearly agitated animal back out into the wilderness. Six looks at Ben, her eyes wide in fright and amazement. And then, simultaneously, both start laughing, cracking up over the whole situation. "Okay, let's keep that whole 'beaver-scared-the-crap-out-of-us' thing to ourselves, shall we?" He walked over, offering her a hand.

She took it, pulling herself nimbly to her feet. "I won't tell if you won't."

_**Paradise, Ohio**_

"_They're, like, all over each other… well, not exactly, but they're getting close, I'm sure of it. And Ben's like this really cool guy who's muscley, and I'm pretty sure that Six is into him…"_

"Sam."

"_Yeah?"_

"Did you really call me up to talk about Ben and Six?"

"_Oh right, no, no I didn't. Damien needs you back here ASAP, as in, take the first flight outta there. Apparently, another one of your kind is in danger. I don't really know all the details, but what I do know is that we're flying to Greece the next chance we get once you're back."_

"She's in danger…" I think back to my vision. I was so sure that girl had died, after all, I had seen her get impaled by that Mogadorian's sword. But then, there was the pain I was feeling. It was hard to describe, but I had attempted to tell Sarah, who was still worried about me. There was a heaviness on my body and mind, almost like I was drugged. And a sense that something wasn't right, like something needed to be fixed before I felt normal again. The pain had lessened to a tolerable degree now, but I was still there. I imagined Five and Six would be feeling much the same. I shoot a look at Sarah by the desk. Her green eyes are fixed to me, almost emotionless. "I'll take the next flight out, Sam."

"_Alright. John?"_

"Yeah?"

"_You'll see here again, man, okay? You will see her again." _Sam cuts the line before I can say anything back. His words did help me though, in a small way. But if leaving her the first time had been hard, this time was damn near impossible. Once the vision was over, Sarah had drove us back to the motel and had led me to the bed. I was out of it, confused and disorientated, so being able to lie down had been a huge help. It took an hour for my head to clear enough for me to think. And the first thing that came to mind was the fact I had to go back to the others, and I had to leave Sarah behind again. I'd always known that it would happen, but I hadn't known just how hard it was going to be. Things were different now then the first time we'd parted. We were both older, more mature, and more realistic as to the gravity of the situation. There was a huge chance that I would die, especially considering the reason why I was leaving her.

"So you're going?" She speaks in a monotone voice, and I hate it immediately.

"I have to," I say. "Damien thinks that the girl I saw is still alive, but she's hurt really bad. We need to find her before the Mogadorians do, Sarah. If we want any shot at winning this war, we are going to need every soldier we can get."

She steps towards me. "So take me with you." I had been waiting for her to say that, and it kills me inside to shake my head at her and see the disappointment cloud her face. "Why not?"

"You know why. I'm not going to put you in danger," I say. Sarah opens her mouth to speak, and I continue, "Sarah, please don't ask me to do this…" I know now how much power she has over me. If she asks, begs, cries, then what little resolve I have left will absolutely shatter. I would love to have her with me, by my side, wrapped in my arms, but I can't. I won't.

Sarah closes the distance between us, taking hold of my neck with both hands and pulling me down to kiss her. Her mouth moves desperately against mine, and I respond, trying to take as much from her as I can. I feel wetness on my cheeks and taste salt, and I open my eyes to see that she's crying, huge teardrops falling down her cheeks from her glassy almond-shaped eyes. I break our kiss off, holding as close as humanely possible to me as I can get. She has her head buried in the crook where my neck meets my collarbone. "I'm going to come back, Sarah."

"And then you'll leave me again."

I can't say anything back. There's nothing really to say. We stand like that for what feels like eternity, and I stroke her back up and down until her sobs subside enough to let her go. "I love you…" I say to her, running a finger over the smooth skin of her cheek. "You have to know that."

"I do, John," she wipes her tears away with the heel of her hand. "I know why you have to leave, but it doesn't make missing you any easier…"

I take her hand in mine, our fingers intertwining easily. "Sarah, one day soon, I'm going to come back, and when I do, I won't leave without you, I swear." She sniffs again, looking down at our hands. "The Mogadorians took my home planet, they killed my grandparents, my parents, and they murdered Henri. I will not let them rob me of this, of being with you, okay? So when I get back to Canada, I'm going to talk to Damien, and Six and the others, and I'm going to figure out a way for us to be together. But I can't take you with me this time…"

She nods her head at me just once. "Okay…"

"And the next time, we're going to do it, vision or not," I joke, kissing her forehead and holding her close. To my absolute joy, I hear her laugh too.

_**Cork, Ireland**_

_CIT – Cork Institute of Technology. _

_A student leaves the class halfway through a lecture, feigning sickness to his professor. In a way, he's not lying. There is pain in his head, a pain in his body. He tries to remain upright as he heads to his car, but halfway there, he cannot keep the façade up any longer. He falls to his knees, his vision blurring. Something is wrong…_

_**Moscow, Russia**_

"_Hit me, Alexei. Make it a double," a huge Russian man sits at a bar, removing his jacket and tossing it next to him. "This days been absolute shit."_

_The bartender turns to face him. He's a tall man, well built, with dark blonde hair and a dusting of stubble left neglected by a razor. "Nothing a shot of this won't clear up," the guy replies, pouring deep amber liquid into a shot glass. He pours himself one, shooting it down with ease and backhanding his mouth free of any remnants. It's a strong liquor, but what happens next makes him wonder just how strong. _

_Pain! There is a screeching in his mind, like something out of a horror movie, and he grimaces, holding his forehead in his hands. "You alright, Alexei?" The man asks. "Liquor a bit too strong for yah, huh?" _

_The bartender doesn't reply. He can't even form a sentence in his head. He stumbles into the backroom and drops to the ground. Something is wrong…_

_**Greece**_

_The soft cooing of doves awakens Nine from her restless sleep. It takes her a while to remember just how she'd gotten into this barn in the first place. Last night is a blur or dark moving shapes, and her dreams were full of blood-red eyes piercing the night, the screams of her beloved Cepan as she was killed, the sound of Mogadorians as they ran. She tries to sit up, and finds it almost impossible to move. Looking down, all she sees is red. Her entire shirt is soaked through with the blood of her wound. _

_Her Cepan had told her that Loriens heal quicker then humans, but when the injury is caused by a Mogadorian weapon, it is far more difficult for their bodies to mend. She lifts up her right hand, putting it to the sword wound. She had no energy left, nothing else. She had ran for hours last night, right until sun up. She wanted to get as far away from Volus as she could. _

_She takes a shaky breath in, closing her eyes. 'Please, if anyone of you can hear me,' she begs in her mind. 'Find me, please…' She starts to cry, the desperate sobs of a person with nothing left to give, with their hope fading fast. 'Find me…'_

_**Montreal, Canada **_

Six opens her eyes, sitting up straight in her bed. She knew where the girl was.

_AN: Once again, please review to tell me it's either crap or good, lol._

_Also a quick note to say that the updates may be a tiny bit slower then what they have been, but not by much. _

_And thanks for all the name's given, still tossing up which suits her best, but keep the ideas coming._

_Later!_


	14. Chapter 14

_AN: Another big thanks to all the people who reviewed, it's AWESOME! And look how fast-ish I update : ) In this chapter, things are seriously gonna change._

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN**

Six is restless sitting on the airplane, her hands constantly fiddling before her as she stared out of the small window, willing the plane to travel faster then it already was. They had just taken off. Sam, who had used his slight lanky figure to beat Ben to the seat beside the blonde girl, looked her over in concern.

"Relax, Six. We're on our way," he tries to comfort her and earns a scowl from her. She knows she's being a bitch to him lately, especially since he had just yesterday told her in so many words that he was in love with her, but she can't bring herself to care all that much. All she can think about was the girl, curled up alone in a dusty building lit by sunlight, her small frame drenched in blood, and her skin turning paler by the second. She was injured badly, but what bothered Six even more was that the girl was scared, terrified right down to her bones. Six wanted to get to her, tell her it was going to be okay, and beat the absolute shit out of any Mogadorian who dare stand in her way. Damien had warned them before take off that their enemies would still be in the area, and that they needed to be on extra alert. Six is glad that she did that training with Ben, it'll definitely give them an edge in battle. Four was flying to Greece from Ohio, his plane was scheduled to land at roughly the same time as theirs. She would never admit it to anyone, but Six had kind of missed Four while he was gone. Not in a romantic way or anything like that, but more in the way one would miss their brother if they took off. In a way, John had become her family, and she worried about him, and found herself caring about how much it must be hurting him to leave his girlfriend.

The airhostess comes around to offer them a drink, but she declines with a silent shake of her head.

"So..." Sam shuts the in-flight magazine with a flourish, tucking it into the back of the seat before him. "I know you don't take about anything remotely to do with emotions…"

"You're right, I don't," Six cuts him off. "So don't ask me."

"Yeah, see, ordinarily, I would just play the strong silent type… well, more just the silent type, but," he leans in closer, dropping his voice. "I told you I care about you and you haven't even really looked at me since."

"Really? You want to bring that up _now?_" Six hisses back, her eyes darting around the cabin. Damien and Ben are in the two seats across from them, and she sees Ben's head slumped against his hand like a dead weight. "You two just won't quit, will you?"

"Us two…" Sam shoots a look at Ben. "What, he made a move aswell?" Six rolled her eyes. "Look, if this is bothering you so much, then pick one, end it! Pick me," he says with a hopeful smile. "I'll make you happy, I swear. I'll stop quizzing you on movie trivia if you choose me."

"Tempting," she turns to look out of the window once more. "But no." Sam bangs his head on his tray table a few times in frustration. She turns to him. "This will all be a lot easier if you both just get it into your heads that I don't want a relationship with either of you."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yes."

"So why did you almost let me kiss you the other day?"

Land mine.

There was no way to talk her way out of that one. Sam was right. If Ben hadn't walked into that room, then she _would_ have let Sam kiss her. And if that girl hadn't been attacked, then she and Ben would have probably still been standing in the forest, wrapped in each other's arms. The problem with the whole situation wasn't that she didn't like the two guys. It was that she liked them both too much, in completely different way.

In a simple world, one where she was just another girl without Earth's survival weighing down on her shoulders, Six could imagine living out her life with both guys, each life as enjoyable and exciting as the other. Sam, with his boyish charm and goofy personality, who promised to make her laugh with his jokes and tell her every single day how much he cared about her. And Ben, who's touch make her skin alight with something akin to desire, and who's eyes burnt into hers with so much intensity she felt like she would catch on fire. God, she did like them both!

But this world wasn't simple, and it wasn't perfect. And at this moment, there was somebody who needed Six's help desperately. Last night, the girl had plagued her dreams. It was like she had been reaching out for Six somehow, her and only her. Ben had slept soundlessly the night Six heard the girl speak.

It was so quiet, like a sound carried miles by the wind that her ear had just picked up before it disappeared. _'Find me, please… find me_.' And then Six had gotten a rush of images, almost like a vision but far more raw and intense then the ones she received with her legacies. She saw where the girl had stumbled off and ran to, where she had hid when the blood loss started affecting her mind.

Six had woken with a cold sweat, breathless and panting like she had been on the run too.

Damien didn't know why Six had gotten the vision, but all would reveal itself as soon as the plane landed. Six tried to get some sleep in. She had a feeling once they landed, sleep would become a rarity. She would not be disappointed.

"""""""

It's been only been 3 hours since I've been apart from Sarah, but it already feels like some dream that was amazing while it lasted, but ultimately felt too good to be true. We didn't spend 3 days together, it had to be all some hallucination my crazy lovesick brain had come up with. I felt sick to my stomach, and straight after my plane had taken off, I went into the bathroom and thrown up whatever little food I'd eaten that day. I think it's a combination of having to leave Sarah, the pain and worry over the mysterious girl, and the anxiousness that I've pretty much lived with since as far back as I can remember.

I shut my eyes, and try to get some sleep. However, all that happens is I replay the last few days in my head, trying to etch every detail into my memory, right up until the one where I dropped her off.

"_I don't know when we'll see each other again…" I say honestly. I wish I could tell her that I'll be back, and that one-day we'll be together with nothing in our way, but I don't want to lie to her, or give her false hopes. So I tilt her head to face mine, keeping her there until her green eyes fix into mine, and I tell her I love her as honestly and as truthfully as I can. _

_She hasn't really talked the whole ride back into Paradise, barely looked at me after what happened in the motel room earlier. The dread of having to leave had shattered whatever hesitation or fear Sarah had. She had started kissing me so hot that I was finding hard to even think. I didn't even notice that she'd unbuttoned my shirt until it fell to my feet. She walked forward into me until my legs hit the edge of the bed and I fell onto my back. She straddles me, her hands tugging my hair, smoothing over my chest. I know I should break it off. It's hurting me to do this, hurting us both, but neither of us make a move to stop. _

_I graze a hand over her breast for the first time, and she moans against my lips. "John…"_

_Hearing her say my name brings me back a semblance of brainpower, and I pull away from her. "Sarah, I can't do this…"_

_She lifts her head up to face me. "Why not?" I immediately see to my utter disgust her eyes darken in sadness, and I take her face in my hands._

"_Believe me, I want to. More then anything, Sarah… but not like this. I have to catch a plane in an hour. When we're finally together, I want to be able to hold you close afterward for hours. This," I motion between us, "this isn't the reason why I wanted to see you. Granted, I have thought about it a lot," I smile, and I see her eyes brighten slightly though her lips stay unmoving. "Call me old fashioned, but you deserve a lot better then midday in a crappy motel room." She gets up from me, and I can tell… or I can feel that she's upset at me. But I also feel she respects me too, that she understands why I'm doing this. We both get into the truck and start the drive._

_It's nearing sunset and the blue sky starts melding into red and orange hues. I look out to the horizon. I'll be driving into that soon, leaving my heart behind for a second time. She's looking at me with those huge almond eyes underneath her lashes, her slow steady gaze that makes me feel that she can see right into my soul. "Even though leaving you for the second time is the hardest thing I've ever had to do, I don't regret coming to see you, Sarah." I doubt she'll ever know how much she means to me, there aren't words to describe it, in any language. Instead, I kiss her, soaking in her raspberry lips, feeling her tongue move against mine in a way that we've perfected over the last few days. I feel my heart thumping like a drum in response to the kiss. _

"_I better go," she whispers, foreheads pressed, eyes boring into mine. "If I don't get out now, I don't think I will be able to let you go." It could easily be a mediocre line in some cheesy teen movie. Instead, it's the utter truth for us both. The Lorien bond of love makes parting with your companion difficult, it was not a natural thing for them to do. _

_To her credit, Sarah manages to unclip her seatbelt and open her passenger door, far more then I would have been able to. She turns back to look at me over her shoulder one last time. "I'll be waiting, John." She gets out of the truck and heads down the street, but not before a catch the tears running down her cheeks. I lay my head on the steering wheel, watching as she disappears from my life for a second time. Then, and only then, do I let myself cry, huge sobs that heave at my chest and give me the stitch, with tears that drip onto my pants and soak them in seconds. _

_And as I drive away from Paradise, Ohio, I know that this is the last, and very last time, I will ever have to part with Sarah Hart again._

And I'm resolved to keep that resolution. Leaving her has literally destroyed something in me. Especially seeing her cry, and knowing I'm the cause. Even a human guy would feel like absolute shit at doing this. I try and think of ways that Sarah could come with me.

There was always the training. I'm sure between Damien, Six, Ben and myself, we'd be able to train her with enough skill to hold her own in battle. After all, Cepan protectors were no different to humans, and they were able to fight the Mogadorians to a certain extent. Even Sam could teach Sarah a thing or do, especially when it came to firing a weapon. It's all wishful thinking. I know deep down that I could never _ever_ put Sarah into that sort of danger.

Then there's the option that I sit the war out, and Sarah and I start out lives together. Hardly an option for me. The thought of letting the other Loriens do the fighting while sat around had me pissed off at my fake self. Besides, the Mogadorians wouldn't just let me sit this war out. I was in it whether I liked it or not. The plane ride was going to be a good nine hours, and I force my eyes shut. Once this plane lands, I have a very strong sense that things were going to change, and that sleep would become a rarity. Sarah is in my dreams.

""""""""""

"Where the _hell _have you been, young lady?" Sarah's mother wasn't a particularly scary looking woman in general, with her soft features and sandy blonde hair. However, standing in the kitchen with her hands on her hips and a scowl so deep Sarah wouldn't be surprised if the lines actually indented themselves permanently in her mothers forehead, gave her an entirely different look. "I went over to Emily's home, and imagine my surprise when I find out from her mother that you were _never _at their house. I want an explanation!"

Sarah had so many emotions swirling around inside her at the moment, that for some reason seeing her mother react like this just pushes her over the edge. "You don't need to know! I'm home now, so just let it go, mom!" she yells back, pushing past her and moving the stairs.

"Do not use that tone of voice with me, Sarah!" Sarah feels her mother grab her arm, and she is yanked back to face her again. "You were with that boy, weren't you!" she accuses. Sarah is so furious and upset now she doesn't even try to cover it up.

"You don't even know anything about John!"

"I know enough. He came to this small town and corrupted my daughter! He's a criminal, Sarah."

"He's not. You have no idea what John is going through."

Her mother huffs, "Oh, and I suppose he spun this intense heartfelt story of the rough deal he had growing up, and how all he wants is to run away with you. God, I thought you had enough sense to see through those guys. You were always so level-headed, Sarah, always knew the difference between right and wrong growing up. No one could get a head-up on you, you were a straight A student…"

"I'm still all of those things."

"No. My daughter wouldn't take off during the Spring Carnival for 3 straight days without telling me where she had gone." Sarah takes a deep shaky breath, steeling her emotions. She looks over at her mother, really looks at her. Her eyes are blood shot and glassy, her hair in askew, she looked kind of disheveled overall, an it was an absolute shock for Sarah to see her mother in such a state when her mom had always prided herself on her appearance, and taken good care of herself. "I was so worried when I found out you weren't at Emily's…"

Sarah swallows as the feeling of guilt adds to the swirl of emotions in her already. "I'm sorry," she says honestly.

"What is it about this boy…?"

God, there was a million ways to answer that question that it takes Sarah minutes before she even starts. "He love me, he really does. And he makes me so happy," she smiles when she thinks of him, and steps forward to take her moms hand. "I can't tell you what you want to know, but you just… you just have to believe me when I tell you that John is one of the most amazing people in this entire world, and one day, you'll know what he's done, and you will know why he is the way he is." Her mother looks at Sarah skeptically, and she can't really blame her. "Please mom… just trust me, alright. I'm not stupid, you know I'm not, and I know what I'm doing."

It seems like Sarah's sitting at that table for an eternity, but then her mom gives her a small nod of her head. "I know you're not stupid, sweetheart, but you're really pushing a mother's trust levels," she sighs.

Sarah nods. "I know. I should have told you where I was going."

"Yes, you should have. But you're back now, right?"

"Yes, I'm back."

"And you're alright?"

Sarah nods her head. As 'alright' as half of a whole can be.

"Okay good," her mother stands up, straightening up her top. "Now, get up into your room because you're grounded."

"Wait, what?"

"You heard me."

Sarah stands up. "But we just discussed…"

"Yeah, I know. And I do trust you… but running off for three days with a guy is still inappropriate. Now get upstairs."

Sarah heads up to her room, but she's smiling. After hearing what John had to go through growing up, she would never ever take her parent's love and discipline for granted again.

_**Volos, Greece**_

I spot Ben first, the tall dark-haired guy is standing in line at Starbucks by the arrival lounge. He turns his head almost immediately as I come out of the gate, and he grins, waving me hello. I pause, spotting Damien at the information desk talking to a red-head woman with glasses and a stern expression. Sam's at the donut place, and Six is sitting one of the chairs.

I head over to her first, holding out my hand. She uses it to get to her feet lightly, and smile, "Hello."

"Hello," I reply with a grin. "How've things been?"

"Oh, you know," she shrugs, "so, so. I would ask how things are going with you, but," she gives my neck a playful flick. "I think I can guess." I catch my reflection in the glass. I have no idea when Sarah might have given me a hickey, but I smile, kind of glad for the reminder that it all actually happened. "Did you have the vision?"

Six's voice pulls me right back to reality, and I nod at her grimly. "Did you find out…"

"No. But due to the fact that no of us got the scar, Damien is convinced she's alive. And I know she is."

"You do?"

"It's a long story, but yes, I do. We need to find her, John…"

"We will," I say before she finishes talking. I can tell she's far more upset and affected over what's happening then she's letting on. "We should get…"

"Hey Six, I got you a coffee…"

"I bought you a donut from…"

I look at both of the guys with a frown as each holds their purchase out to the girl by my side like an offering. Six groans, rolling her eyes and pushing passed the two guys without taking anything from them. They watch her leave, and then turn and scowl at one another, before I take the coffee and donut from their hands. No point in letting good food going to waste.

"Good to have you back, John," Ben clamps his hand on my shoulder. "Hope you're ready for the ass kicking the Mogs have got coming our way."

"Always."

Five goes over to Damien, leaving me and Sam standing in the waiting room. "Where's Bernie?"

"I have no idea," Sam replies at the same time as Bernie's voice wafts through my head. _I am here, John. I will change once it is safe_.' I look around despite the fact I know I won't be able to see my Chimera at all. "How was the goodbye?"

We start walking to the exit. "It was hard. I'm glad I went to see her, but I don't think I will be able to do it again. Not unless we can be together."

"Fair enough man."

The airport is pretty busy at 11:37pm, it's the building that never sleeps. Outside, the air is still warm despite the hour, and the car park is lit up with buses and taxis and cars as they continually pick up or drop off passengers. I stand outside with Six, taking in the sights. I'd never been to Greece before, I remember it being one of the places Sarah had wanted to visit. I make a mental note to bring her here one day.

"Alright…" Damien walks up to us, maps and pamphlets in his hands. "From what you told me, Six, and what I learn from that _helpful _lady at the front desk, is that the girl were looking for isn't in a barn, she is here." He holds up a picture before us, and I lean in to take a closer look. "It's a church," I say.

"That's right. The Basilika in Volos. It sits right on the waterfront, in one of the most stunning…"

"Okay, we don't need a tour," Six cuts Damien off. "We just need to find her. If you think she's here, then what the hell are we waiting for?"

Damien's gotten used to Six's curt words by now, and simply shrugs her off. "There's a rental place down the road. You four wait here, and don't move. I'll be right back." He heads down the pavement, leaving us by the entrance. It's silent for a long moment, before Six speaks.

"You know, I feel like I wouldn't like me if I met me." We all laugh, but she just shakes her head. "Seriously, I'm not a very nice person."

"You are who you are," I reply. "You wouldn't be Six if you were all sweet and nice. You kick ass, you tell it like it is."

"Yeah, I guess."

A black Mercedes cruises up, and Damien opens to the window. "Not exactly subtle, man," Ben says.

"It was the only one they had left. Get it."

I jump into the back with Ben and Sam, leaving Six the front passenger seat. "So, are we going to straight there?"

"Yes. There's no point in getting a hotel room. This girl's hurt, we need to find her before the Mogadorians do. By now, they'll know the charm is broken, which means the others, Numbers Seven and Eight are in grave danger too."

"And Number Ten?" I ask. The mood in the vehicle shifts, and Six and Ben both look to Damien for an answer.

"There is no Number Ten," he replies in a grim voice.

"Yes there is," Six snaps, clearly pissed off at being lied to right to her face. "Four and I used the tracking stone, we _felt_ them. Why do you insist of keeping him or her a secret! They're in danger as much as the others."

"Look, just leave it alone!" Damien snaps, looking at all of us with a scowl.

"We have a right to know," Ben says in a deadly serious tone.

"Not now, alright. We have to focus now, more then ever. The Mogadorians are after each and every one of you…"

There's a ringing in my ears that cuts off his sentence. Vaguely, I see a light shining through my jeans, and for a small second, I imagine this is all a dream. But as I look over to Ben, who's staring down at his leg in utter horror, and Six, who's face is white as fear drained the blood from it, I know I'm not dreaming.

Ben is the first yell in pain as the scar starts to burn into his flesh, and I am right after. I can hear Six screaming, and Damien and Sam both yelling too as they watch as cry out one by one. The skin on my leg sears, burning white hot, as another symbol starts to brand itself above the other 3, and all I can do is rock back and forth, my eyes squeezed shut, as my mind screams the same thing over and over. This wasn't happening, this wasn't happening, this wasn't happening. I lift up the pant leg of my jeans shakily, but the scar was still there.

One of us had just been killed.

_AN: Once again, please review. This was essential for the plot, so please don't hate me! _


	15. Chapter 15

_**AN: Hey, as always, a big thanks to all who reviewed, and sorry it's taken me a while to update… enjoy!**_

"We all knew this could happen." Damien had been talking to us in this low somber voice for the past hour now, in a tone usually reserved for giving condolences at funerals. I'm staring out the window at the street lamps flashing by, my eyes shifting left to right with each one. Another one of us is dead, just like that. No big fiasco, no epic battle. They were murdered, and we weren't there. For some reason, I find it impossible to fathom that another Lorien could be dead, surely there had to be some mistake. Damien's still talking quietly in the front seat, but I'm too not sure if he's trying to comfort us or himself now. "There isn't anything we could have done…" I notice that he never said that it wasn't our faults. That would be a lie, and we all knew it. Each of us was guilty for the death of another of our kind, particularly me. If anyone of us should have gone down, it was me. Number Four. I lean my forehead against the cool glass window, battling the heavy depression that's starting to settle in over my mind, now fueled with a wave of crushing guilt. _God, Sarah_… I think in my head of her beautiful face, _how badly I need you_… Damien is wringing his hands back and forth on the steering wheel, his eyes blank of emotion as he looks out of the front at the road before him. "All we can do is go to this church and try and find this girl," he continues to talk, as if to fill in the silence. Even Sam, who is usually the chatty one, is sitting stone-faced at my side.

"It could be the girl who died," Ben says quietly. "We don't know… none of us could make anything out of the vision we saw." I nod my head. The death of this Lorien had been nothing but darkness, muffled shapes moving to and fro, my mind drenched with panic and fear over what was happening. And then I felt an emptiness, as I had when Numbers One, Two and Three were murdered. And the raw burnt skin on my calf just confirmed it.

Damien says, "We need to stay as focused as we can, guys, more then ever. The Mogadorians have started their attack on us, we know this for certain now. They could very well be at the church…"

"If they are, they better start running," Six says, and I can feel the fury coming off her like waves of pure heat. The rest of the car ride is spent in silence as each of us comes to grip with what just happened, and I prepare myself for the what's _going_ to happen next.

We reach the church just before dawn. The pitch black sky is starting to lighten to a midnight blue, and the stars are beginning to twinkle out, like some giant hand is snuffing them out one by now. If we weren't currently searching for a girl who may or may not be dead, it might have been beautiful to look at. Damien circles around and opens to boot of the car, where our briefcase of Lorien weapons lay waiting. Six snuck it through customs easily enough with her invisibility skill. I can't imagine security would have been too happy about it. Sam takes Six's pistol in his hands, Damien has the grenade launcher, strapping the extra ammo across his chest, and his trusty dagger too. Ben carries no weapons but his fists, and Six and I have our daggers in our hands. Her face void of any emotion, and it's scary to see her like this, but I can understand why she is. Fighting and killing was easier without emotions getting in the way. Despite what the Mogadorians have done, what they are doing, they are still living creatures that die at our hands. And when it came down to it, we are just a bunch of teenagers fighting for survival. Killing is not a natural thing for us.

"You ready?" Damien asks us, looking each in the eye.

"Let's go." I take the lead, powering up my Lumen and holding it before me to light our path. I feel a bit safer hearing the gentle hum of my legacy. I'm flanked by Ben and Six, with Damien and Sam at the rear, their heads like swivels and their guns held ready. I take a steady breath, and then push open the heavy oak door of the church with a hand. The hinges creek eerily as the door swings open, reminding me of horror films. My life was a horror film. We all pause, as still as statues, lingering warily in the doorway as we wait for the Mogadorians to appear and start firing. But there's nothing. No movement, and no sound. I release a breath that I didn't realize I had been holding, and step through the door.

Inside the church, there are rows and rows of wooden seats leading up to the alter at the front. It smells like dust and incense. There's stained glass panels of reds and blue and yellow that lines the top of the building. I move my Lumen around the room, combing the inside, but I'm fairly confident by now that there was no one else here. Mog's weren't small of build, I doubt they're any good at hide-and-seek.

Damien appears at our side with three candlesticks, holding them out. "A little light, Six." Six snaps her fingers, and the candles alight all at once, illuminating each of our faces. I can now see just how petrified each of us all look in the candlelight, our eyes sunken into our heads, our skin pale. "Lets split up, we're not leaving without scouring every inch of this church," he hands a candle to Six and Ben, keeping one for himself. "Sam, you're with Four." Sam's by my side in a blink of an eye. "Be thorough, don't let a stone go unturned." We all split up.

"""""

Six holds her candle out before her as she moves along the edge of the room, her eyes piercing the darkness for any sign of disturbance at all.

"So, I've been thinking…"

"Wow, alert the media. Ben has been thinking," she says back. They're both whispering but neither knows why. Six just figures that's what you do in churches.

"And I think I know what your problem is," he completely ignores her snarky remark, the two continuing their search through some of the back rooms. Six tries the handle to one, finds it locked, and uses her telekinesis to snap the lock open all in one go. "You can't decide between the good guy and bad guy." Six huffs, opening the room. It's a small dusty study with a bookcase in the corner. "You've got Sam, who's got his sweet boyish charm thing going on, I guess it works for some girls…"

"And you're the bad guy." He just smiles at her wickedly.

"How am I doing?"

Six walks to the next room, turning the handle. "Honestly, you're…" her sentence cuts off in a small squeal as something flies straight at her face. She whips her hand in front of her to deflect it, and her palm comes down hard on something soft. The thing flies sideways, hitting the wall and dropping. She can see feathers.

"You hit a dove," Ben edges passed her into the room.

"It startled me…" she mumbles, looking over to the unmoving bird. What is it with woodland creatures terrifying her lately? First the beaver, not this dove! Ben is crouching beside the bird, reaching for it. "Don't bother, I'm pretty sure it's dead. I hit it pretty hard," she mumbles guiltily.

"Relax, Six, it's fine," Ben takes the bird in his hands, stroking it. "See." He tosses it into the air and the dove flies from the room franticly, heading out of the room.

"Huh… you're just a regular Dr. Doolittle, aren't you?"

"That's depends. Does Dr. Doolittle turn you on?" He rose his eyebrow at her.

"Honestly… I find it _amazing_ how you and Sam can be so interested in being with me after everything we're going through." He goes to speak, but she doesn't let him get a word out. "Seriously, Ben? We're currently searching for a girl who's either dead, or bleeding to death and terrified, and you want to stand there and have a conversation about _feelings_?"

"Point noted," he says, dropping his head. "Until we resolve this thing, I swear to you I won't try and seduce you."

She rolls her eyes, walking from the room. She's smiling.

"""""""

The sound of wood screeching on wood startles me, and I turn to the right to see Sam looking at me sheepishly. "Sorry," he mumbles. "Didn't see the chair." I can hear his teeth chattering in fear. We head to the confession booths, opening the curtains one by one and searching through them. "John?"

"Yeah."

"Would you judge me if I said I'm terrified right now?"

"No." I was too, I want to add.

Ten minutes into this search, and there's still no sign of this girl. There is not even an indication that she had been in this church at all. I'm starting to relax a little, especially now that there is the beginning of sunlight starting to shine through the stained glass, illuminating the church from pitch black to gray. I let my Lumen fade out as my surroundings come into view. We had walked a full circle of the huge room. "There's nothing here," I say to Sam. I see Ben and Six checking through the small rooms across the church, and Damien's near the front, inspecting the altar.

"Hey John, where do you think this leads to?" I turn to Sam, who's pointing to a tiny wooden hatch that had been concealed behind one of the booths.

"I think it might lead to the bell tower, maybe," I walk over, giving the handle on the small wooden hatch a yank. It falls open with a bang, and sunlight shines out brightly, illuminating the swirls of dust that become disturbed as I step through. The first thing I notice is that this bell tower is massively tall, at least 6 stories high made from clean white brick, with the heavy bell hanging from the roof.

The next thing I see is the girl curled up in the corner, her knees pulled up to her chest, curled in a fetal position. Two thoughts hit my head simultaneously. The first was that she was alive. The second thought was that her _being_ alive meant another Lorien somewhere else was dead. "Holy crap, she's here!" Sam exclaims as he stumbles into the bell tower. I go to her, skidding to her side of my knees. _Please be alright, please be alright, please be alright_, I say a silent prayer in my head as I put my hand to her cheek. Her face is cold to the touch, and her skin is as pale as the moonlight had been. But with a shaky finger, I feel a faint pulse jutter against my fingertips. "She's alive, Sam. Get the others!"

The very next second, the wall where we had climbed through shatters into a million pieces, and I cover my face from the debris sent flying our way. As the dust settles, I hear Sam yell. "John!"

A Mogadorian is standing before me, it's rifle trained straight at me. Before I can even begin to think of where it came from, or even try and attack it, Ben comes crashing straight through the wall, sending more wood splinters ricochet through the air. He tackles into the Mogadorian soldier like a football player, and despite the creature being at least a half meter taller then Five, the two go barreling straight through the bricks in the of the bell tower, crashing from sight. This whole thing had been a trap! I realize with a start. The Mogadorians were here.

I can hear the unmistakable hum of Mogadorian rifles being fired, and can recognize the distinct sound of Six as she used her invisibility legacy. For a small moment, I'm at a loss as to whether I should run out and help Six, or stay here. I turn back to Sam, whose face is as white as the girl by my side. They couldn't be left alone, they wouldn't last a second. I snap into action.

"Sam, I need you to use your pistol and shoot any Mog that tries to come through those doors, alright," I pull my friend to his feet by the front of his tee shirt, giving the pistol a shake as I try and get him to break through the fear and concentrate. "I'm going to try and get this girl moving, but I need time… Sam!"

Hearing his name, Sam switches into action. He steps passed me and aims the pistol to the two entrance ways into the tower. I crouch down beside the girl, holding my hands over her slight frame. I don't know if this was going to work, but it was the only thing I could think to do. I take a deep breath, focusing on what I wanted to do, just like Henri had trained me. Then I let my Lumen power up as brightly and powerfully as I can manage.

The girl's eyes snap open as soon as I start, and I notice they're as green as emeralds. She's gasping, clawing at the ground as the Lumen soaks through her. I keep up the pressure despite the fact I can feel the energy draining from me. She needed it more then I did. The color starts returning to her face as her blood starts pumping again as my Lumen moves though her, giving her energy, giving her life.

With a cry, she pushes herself into sitting position, her eyes darting wildly as she takes in her surroundings. I drop my hands from her, panting with exertion. "No time.. to, explain," I manage to get out. "I need you to fight." Standing up, I hold out my hand to the girl. She is on her feet, though I can immediately tell she's still exhausted. I can see the deep puncture wound in her shoulder start to bleed again, soaking her already bloodstained tee-shirt, but there's nothing we can do about it yet. Especially since another Mog has just punched his way through the side of the tower. Sam shoots it right in the stomach, and I take the small moment of distraction to run full tilt into it. It's like hitting a brick wall, and the inertia sends us tumbling both back into the main room of the church. The Mog head butts me, which feels like a baseball bat swing to the face. I can taste blood in my mouth, but I shake the dizziness off. With a yell, I stab my dagger deep into the Mogs chest, twisting the blade around until it disintegrates beneath me and I hit the wooden ground below.

I can now take in just how damaged the inside of the church is now. The beautiful stained glass, which I'd assume has been there for hundreds of years, has all smashed, rained down onto the floor covering everything, and at least half of the wooden seats are nothing but firewood now. I can see Damien pinned down behind the alter stage, firing off shots when he could, but I can't see Six anywhere. That's not surprising though, 90% of the battle she's invisible anyway, only ever appearing to strike a death dealing blow at one of the unsuspecting Mogs.

The Mogadorians here have quickly discovered that she's the one they need to take down, and they are all pivoting around, searching for the blonde girl and barely paying us attention. I spot Six for one second, she's just a whirl of limbs and blonde hair as she spins passed one of the scouts, slicing open it's throat and disappearing again as another takes a swing at her. The scout clutches desperately to its throat as its blood shoots out onto the ground. Another Mog, flanked by 4 soldiers, walks forward, and with a swing of its sword, beheads the Mog ruthlessly, ending its life. "Show yourself, girl!" it yells out loudly in a direct challenge, his eyes peering the room. "Cowards!"

"John!" I turn to Damien. "It's the Commander, John. You need to take him out! You get rid of him, this fight is over, trust me!" He ducks back as a beam of red energy burns towards him.

I'm get to my feet, dodging two rifle shots and sprint behind one of the confessional booths. I feel the back of my left leg sear as one of the Mog's get a lucky shot in. Gritting my teeth, I peer out behind the booth. The Mog's are torn as to whether to come after me or Six. The wall behind my hiding place smashes apart, and I turn to face my new attacker.

"Ben! What the hell are you doing?" I hiss at him.

He gives me a shrug, flicking some wood chips from his shoulder. "The other entrances are blocked." He steps beside me, peering out from behind our temporary shelter. "Where is Six?"

"I have no idea. Damien told us we need to take out the Commander."

"And I'm guessing that's the asshole there?" He pointed the Commander out.

"Uh huh."

Ben took in the impressive soldiers flanking their leader, and sighs, "Fantastic." He ducks behind the cover just before a beam of red energy fries the air where his head had just been. "I need to get to Six."

"Keep your love crap out of this," I mumble. "Six can handle herself."

"You're one to talk, Mr. Paradise," Ben hits me on the arm. "I mean, I need to get to Six so we can take out that Commander and end this damn thing before the priest arrives and realizes God isn't the only damn thing out there in the universe," he says back. I feel something brush passed me, knocking me against the wall, and then Six appears in my arms, collapsing into me, exhausted. She's puffing like an asthmatic, clutching at her chest. "Are you alright?" I demand.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she brushes me off and straightens back up. "We need to get that Mog," she says to Ben.

"I'm way ahead of you," he turns to me. "You think you've got enough Lumen to give us a boost?"

I nod my head, holding a hand out at each of them. "Ready when you are."

"Red bulls for pussy's, John," Six smiles. I take a breath, and I fire up my lights. Straight away, I can feel the energy start draining from me as it moves into them, and I know I can't keep it up for long. But it's long enough.

Ben takes hold of Six and throws her out from behind the wall. She disappears before the Mog's catch sight of her, and then suddenly the Commander is flying through the air as the still invisible Six barrels into him. The other Mogadorians all scramble in confusion, especially when their leader and Commander, who one moment before was alive barking orders, is now nothing but dust on the ground. Six crashes to the ground at a high enough velocity to shatter the wood beneath her, becoming visible to the now furious remaining Mogadorians. "We've gotta get her outta there," I snap, stepping out from the wall immediately. Ben and I both sprint towards the Mogs, and I slam into the closest one. I can feel my body shudder in the pain of being thrown about, I'll be paying for this later. I stab the Mog dead, and without the Commander, the others are easy pickings. Between Ben, Damien and myself, we dispatch of the remaining aliens without too much trouble.

2 minutes on, and the final soldier crumbles into a pile of ash by my feet. Ben is on his knees by Six's side, his hand to her forehead. "She's out cold…"

"That was a hell of a hit she took," Damien says. "Good work, by the way."

Ben lifts Six from the ground, bridal style, her head cradled in the crook of his elbow, and her knees bent over his other arm. She was a dead weight, but no trouble for the powerful Lorien.

"We need to get out of here before…" I stop talking when I hear sirens coming from outside, and the skid of tires on the gravel. I turn to Damien. "Uh… plan B?"

"Ordinarily, I would have Six make us disappear but given the circumstance," he motions to the unconscious girl.

"Maybe I can help…"

All of us turn to the new voice who spoke. Sam has his arm wrapped around the girls small waist, and she's leaning heavily on him for support. Standing before me, I can truly take in her appearance.

She's about an inch shorter then Sam, with a mix of brown and blonde hair that falls halfway to her waist in a mass of waves. Strands are mattered with blood, like dreads. But the bleeding from the puncture wound on her shoulder seems to have stopped for the time being, and she's got a tiny bit of color back in her face.

Damien takes a step towards the girl. "What do you mean?"

The door, or what is left of it, to the church opens, and two policemen walk in, guns held before them. I raise my hands, but the policemen's eyes seem to run straight over us as they survey the damage. They speak in quick sentences in Greek, pointing at all the damage, to the broken confessionals, and the shot-up alter, their gaze falling on everywhere but us.

"I can't keep it up for long…" the girl says, her hand outstretched at the two cops. "Especially if others come. We should… get out of here."

Without waiting for an explanation, we all run out of the church and pile into our Mercedes. "We'll get as far from here as we can and ditch this vehicle," Damien say as he speeds away from the crime scene. He turns to look behind him. "Your name?"

"Nine," she says in a quiet voice.

Damien shakes his head once. "What's your name?"

She seems surprised that this man seems to care, but answers finally. "Kayla… that's the last," she sighs, looking down at her hands. For some reason, that move Kayla did reminds me of Sarah, and I have to look away, "It's the last name my Cepan gave me before the Mog's killed her."

"I'm sorry…" I say to her.

She nods her head once. "Your's…"

"He was killed, just over a year ago," I hold out my hand. "John… or Number Four."

"Four! I thought you were killed," she motions to the scar on her calf muscle.

"We don't know who that was," Ben says to her in an choked tone. "Did you have the vision?"

Kayla shakes her head. "I don't know how long I've been out for. I barely even remember going into that church… I think I was delirious. I've been bleeding pretty bad for a while now," she pulls her shirt down at the collar, revealing the shiny red skin around the blood red wound. There's raw muscle visible, and I can see a flash of white bone. I wince, that gash would been hurting like hell. "Whatever you did to me," she looks me in the eye, nodding once in gratitude. "It helped…"

"John?" Damien asks from the drivers seat, waiting for an explanation.

"I used my Lumen on her."

"You did the right thing. But it won't heal that wound… that's caused by a Mog blade, it'll take a lot longer to heal. Ordinarily, I could heal that with the Lorien stones, but I have none left. As soon as we're safe, I'll take a look at that. Until then, just stay as still as you can, and relax, Kayla. We'll take care of it from here."

In the sunlight, I can survey just how beat up we all are. Sam's not too bad, and aside from the girls wound, they're both pretty good. Ben's hands are swollen and red, and he's bleeding at the hairline. Six is still cradled in his arms, unconscious. I'd imagine it's not just the fall that knocked her out. She'd fought violently in that church, used her legacies profusely, and now her exhausted body is starting the massive repair job. Damien's not too bad in himself, a few bruises here and there.

I catch my reflection in the rear-view mirror. I'm a completely different story. The skin on the left side of my face is starting to bruise purple and pink, and my eyes beginning to swell shut from where the Mog head butted me. I don't have to take my shirt of to know my entire chest will be bruised too.

But, looking across the car to the girl on the other side, I know that my injuries are worth it. There's strength in numbers, and now we have Number Nine. And from what little I saw her do in the church, I can't even begin to imagine what she is capable of.

This war has just taking a small swing in our favor.

_**AN: Please review! Let me know how I'm going and any ideas you want to see. **_


	16. Chapter 16

_**AN: WOW! Thanks so so so much for all the reviews, it was so awesome, and they're so encouraging for me, honestly, I can't even tell you. Sorry it's taken me a little longer to update, but hope you enjoy it, and thanks again. You Guy All Rock! **_

_I'm sorry, John..."_

"_Sarah…Look, I said some things the last time we talked that I didn't mean. I'm sorry. It's just, this is hard for me too, alright?" She starts crying, huge warm tears dripping from her beautiful eyes and it's killing me but I press on. "I miss you like crazy, every single day. But we are always running, always on the move. If you're here, you will never be safe. Until this war is over, I'm never going to be safe." Henri was not joking when he talked about Lorien's affection. Seeing Sarah cry felt like a dagger twisting in my chest. I wanted, no, I needed her to stop, but there was nothing I could say or do. "Say something." _

_There's a pause in her sobs. I reach for her, but she steps away from my hand, saying the only words that crush what little happiness I have in me. "I can't do this anymore John."_

_My world crumples, my heart stops. "Be with me?"_

_She shakes her head. "Being with you is the easiest thing in the world. It's being apart I can't handle. I'm not eating, I can barely sleep. Mom has put me on anti-depressants, they're not helping. And then you call me, and I'm reminded every time of what I'm missing, and then you're gone again. I can't do this, I'm not… I'm not strong enough. I'm sorry." She walks away, and I call after her, desperately reaching for her. "Sarah..Sarah!"_

"Sarah!" I sit up awake in my bed, and double over straight away as a sharp pain shoots through me. I gasp, holding a hand to my chest and try and focus on breathing in and out. It hurts even to do that. That dream shook me… it was so realistic.

I wait for my eyes to focus. I'm in a hotel room, a pretty expensive one by the looks of things. The curtains are drawn wide, letting sunlight in, and making me squint against it. Bernie is lying at the foot of my bed, having changed back to his beagle form. It makes me feel a little better seeing him there, my old friend at my side once more. He's looking at me, head tipped curiously like dogs do. _I'm alright, Bernie_, I say to him, and he lays his head on his paws. He doesn't believe me.

I don't know what the time is, hell, I barely even remember walking up here. Looking down at my bare chest, I see deep patches of purple and blue covering my almost every inch of my skin. I put a finger gingerly over my ribs, wincing at the pain. I've never been this bet up before.

The door to my room opens with a bang that gives me a fright, and Six walks in with a tray of food in her hand, kicking the door shut behind her. "Damien said not to move to much," she states plainly, walking over.

I scoot back slowly until I'm leaning up against the headboard for support. "How did I get here? And where is here?"

"Here… we're still in Greece, Damien made a straight run to Athens last night. When I woke up, you were dead asleep and pale white. Ben had to carry you in, I honestly thought you'd died for a second, you were so unresponsive," she hands the tray to me, sitting down on the edge of the bed at my side. "How are you feeling now, Four?"

"Like I've gone through a spin cycle," I mumble. I look down at my bare chest, and clear my throat, asking, "Where is my shirt?"

"I took it off so Damien could check you over," Six looks at my expression, and rolls her eyes. "Don't look so worried, I didn't molest you or anything… He said it's a miracle you hadn't broken a rib, the way you were throwing yourself around in that church."

I huff, "What about you? You were unconscious the last time I saw you…"

"Yeah…" she shrugs. "I hit that wooden floor pretty damn hard. The last thing I remember is slamming into that Commander. Thank god I stabbed him, I'm pretty sure I had passed out by the time I landed."

I wolf down the food, realizing how starving I am. "Wait…" memories of the other night come flashing back all at once. The girl, Nine… Kayla. "Is Kayla alright?"

"Yeah, she's doing a lot better then when we found her, she almost looks human again..." I raise an eyebrow at her, and she smiles, "You know what I mean. Damien bound up her gash. She's been sleeping almost as much as you have." Six's face lights up, "God, her legacy is amazing, John!"

"What is it?"

"She can basically go into the minds of anyone or anything, even more then one at a time, and make them see things that aren't happening. It's how she escaped the Mogadorian attack on her, Kayla basically hacked into all nine Mogs brains at once. And Damien thinks that's why we saw her death. That's what she did to the cops at the church too… they saw everything but us."

"Illusions…"

"I know, trippy huh! She can manipulate the elements like I can too, and Damien is really keen to get us into training, to learn how to combine our legacies. We couldn't have found her at a better time. Damien is pretty sure he'd located a Mogadorian settlement on the drive here. He's gone with Ben to take a closer look. He figures instead of waiting for the Mogadorians to find us, we find them." There's excitement brimming in her eyes. Trust Six to be interested in battle right after leaving one!

"We attack the settlement?"

"Yeah. We're strong enough now, once you and Kayla heal up. And she's as eager to hunt the Mogs as I am." She flicks a strand of hair from her shoulder. "Which is saying a lot." There's silence for a long moment while I eat. I feel Six's eyes watching me, like she's looking for something in my face, and I eventually raise my eyebrow at her.

"What?"

"What what?" she asks back. "Something's bothering you."

"Huh? Nothings bothering me…"

"Please, you look like you've seen a ghost, and you've got that whole troubled concerned expression you do so well. Come on, you can tell me, John."

I put the tray to my side, folding my arms over my chest. "I had a dream about Sarah last night."

"O-kay, on second thought…" she goes to get up.

"Not _that_ kind of dream," I say quickly. "I dreamt that she broke up with me, and… I don't know how to explain it. It felt like a warning, almost. It was just so real, Six. It felt real. I don't know what I would do if Sarah would leave me… I don't even know who I am without her."

"She's not going to leave you, believe me," Six says. "I only met the girl once but I can tell she's got it bad, almost as pathetic as you, John. See, I just steer clear of allof that love-me-for-eternity stuff. Make's life _far_ more easier…"

I give her a smile, tilting my head. "Speaking of which, I've been hearing stories about your relationship problems."

"Oh yeah, from who?"

"Bernie," I'm quick to reply. Six stares at the dog at my feet, who looks back at her innocently.

"Traitor," she mumbles to Bernie under her breath.

"So… who's it gonna be, huh?" I tease, reveling in the fact that it's my turn to have to fun. "Sam or Ben. I'm gonna have to go for my little buddy, although Ben did save me at the church. Sam has liked you from the start."

"How about neither?" walking to the door. She holds out her hand, and my tray lifts from the bed and sails into her palm. "If either of those two ask you to do anything in regards to me," she points to herself, "just nod your head and do nothing, okay? Sam may be your buddy, but I'm basically your sister. Recognize…" She leaves the room.

It was the first time Six has put a label to our friendship, and it meant a lot to me. She had basically become my family since Henri had passed away. Losing her would be almost as hard as losing Sarah, in a completely different sense.

Getting into the shower, I blast the hot water so I can have some semblance of a warm shower. One major set back of being heat resistant was that I didn't feel heat anymore. Pro's definitely outweighed the cons though. I attempt to scrub my body, but even the slightest movement has me wincing in pain, and I eventually just stand there, my head resting against the white tiled wall as the water runs down my back.

I call Sarah once I'm out, and she answers on the second ring. "_John?"_

Hearing her voice makes me grin from ear to ear. "Hey, beautiful."

She sighs into the receiver, "_I've been grounded since you left."_

"Haha, really?"

"_Yep. Mom said it's unacceptable to take off with a guy for 2 days without telling her. It was worth it."_

"Absolutely," I smile. "We found Number Nine."

"_Really? Wow, where was he?"_

"Uh… it's a girl. Her name is Kayla. She was almost dead when we found her."

"_Oh…Is she alright?" _

"I think so. I haven't really talked to her yet…" I hit my hand on my forehead, idiot! Now she'll ask why.

"_Why?_"

"I uh… I've, well.."

"_John…."_ She scolds me like a teacher does a student, and I confess.

"We ran into some Mogadorians last night. It was a decent battle."

"_And you got hurt?"_

"Not too bad," I lie quickly. "Just a few bruises."

"_You're lying." _Crap! "_You should know by now that you can't lie to me. How badly hurt are you?"_

"Honestly, it's not too bad. No less then a boxer after four rounds in the ring," I say. "We Loriens heal a lot quicker then humans. Should be right as rain in a day or two?" _Right as rain_, I think with a frown. "I'm sorry you're grounded."

"_I'm not_," Sarah laughs. "_Now I don't have to think of excuses to tell Mark and Emily over why I can't go out with them."_

I hold the mobile close to my ear. "I've only left Ohio a few days ago, it already feels like eternity."

"_How do you think I feel? At least you've got something to do, a goal to reach, something to work toward. All I can do is wait… I swear, I'm going to be the most patient human on this planet by the time this is over." _

"Well, patience _is_ a virtue, after all."

"_How religious of you, John. Where are you now?"_

"Athens…"

"_Athens, serious! God, I'm jealous."_

"I'll bring you here one day, Sarah. I promise."

"_I'm going to hold you to that." _

Sam sprints into my room, jumping from foot to foot like an excited schoolboy, motioning me out. "I gotta go, Sam wants me for something."

"_Alright… look, I know you can't promise me to stay out of danger, but you can promise me that you won't do anything stupid and reckless. You're a smart guy… don't be an idiot. Stay alive and come back to me."_

"I will, Sarah."

"_You better. I love you John."_

"You too." I switch my mobile shut with a heavy heart, before turning to Sam. "Now, whats up with the chicken dance you're doing?"

"Come on, I'll show you." He heads out into the lounge, and I follow, falling tiredly onto the comfortable leather couch. Kayla is lying on the floor on her stomach in front of Sam's computer screen. Her shoulder in bound tight with white cloth, but she is looking a lot better then the other day. Her skin and face has been washed free of the blood and dirt, revealing a youthful woman's face beneath. Her skin is white against her dark hair, and her eyes truly are the strangest shade of green I've ever seen. Sam moves toward her, sitting cross-legged beside her frame comfortable. He turns the laptop screen to me. It showed a darked haired guy with blue eyes. "Who's that?" I ask tiredly.

"That is Paul Evans. He was reported missing in Ireland 2 days ago after leaving his college lecture mid-way," I sit up at attention as Sam starts reading the news article, "His professor reported to police that Paul appeared distracted and pained before leaving the classroom, almost frantic. Students told police they saw him stumbling out to his car, speeding off quickly…"

"How's you find this?" I demand.

"Just doing my usual trawling the internet. Six told me that Number Seven was in Ireland after using the tracking stone, so I ran a search on missing persons in Ireland on the date the scar appeared on your guys legs. This was the first article that came up."

"So you think this is Number Seven?"

"Kayla told me to run a search of missing persons in Russia on that date, and only two came up, a young girl and a 87 year old man, so this is our best bet so far. Paul Evans was a college student at CIT, he'd been there for only a year after transferring from… it doesn't list it."

"I bet it doesn't," I say under my breath. No way would a Cepan leave any history on the net for the Mogadorians to find. I turn to Kayla. "So, how are you feeling?"

"A lot better then before, but," she looks away. "it still sucks. It's like a there's a hole in me…"

"There _is _a hole in you," Sam states, and she laughs.

"I mean, there's a hole that opened with my Cepan was killed, and I don't know how to fix it. Allison was there from the beginning, as far as I can remember, and now I wake up and…"

"They're not there," I finish.

"Right…" She sighs to me.

"It gets easier…" I say after a while. "I just have to remind myself that I'm doing what I can to avenge Henri, and I'm fighting for what he died fighting for."

"Yes. I guess." She gives a half-shrug. "Do you want to play cards?"

Me and Sam look at each other, eyebrows raised, and Sam asks, "Cards?"

"Yeah," she moves to the coffee table by the huge TV, and pulls a pack out. "Allison always made me play cards when I'm stressed, just so I could pretend everything was normal. Poker?"

"Poker… with an Illusionist?"

Kayla turns to Sam. "Promise I won't use my powers." I swear I heard her add 'much' before she started dealing the cards.

""""""""

Damien had found a Mogadorian settlement. Or at least, he was pretty _sure_ he'd found a settlement. As a Cepan, he was trained to look for signs of any Mog activity, and for places that would be perfect to suit the Mogadorians need for big areas that provided shelter It was a real fluke that he had stumbled upon this place actually. As he drove from Volos to Athens last night, he spotted the old power station. It had condemned signs nailed up everywhere on tall chain-linked fences with razor wire strung over the top. It was enough to make his curious, and he had made it a point to drive back the next day when the others were safely hidden.

Ben insisted in coming along, and Damien couldn't do much to convince him otherwise.

"So, this is it…" They had been parked outside the station for about 10 minutes now, looking over the building silently. "It just looks like an abandoned warehouse to me."

Damien tapped the steering wheel before him in thought. "Maybe… but look at the signs."

"What signs?"

"'Do Not Enter', 'Danger', 'Condemned', they're everywhere, tied up in random places along the whole fence line. It just feels to me like someone is trying really hard to keep people out. There is no order, nothing..."

"So, let's go check it out," Ben reaches for the handle, but his Cepan stops him with a hand to his arm.

"For your sake, I hope you're not this rudimentary when I'm not around, Ben. I thought I taught you better then that."

Ben sits back in, sighing. "So you want to sit here and stare them out of their hideout?"

"Watch your mouth," Damien hit Ben up the side of the head. He leans forward, trying to peer through the darkened windows. "If I'm right, and this is a Mogadorian base, then they'll be housing beasts here, beasts that need to eat every few hours…"

"So if a meat truck pulls up and delivers a load of raw steak to this condemned deserted power station, then what? We attack them?"

"We are at war, Ben. So far, we've only fought the defensive. We need to go on the offense, be the attackers. The Mogadorians need to know that you guys aren't defenseless little teenagers, and that you aren't hiding anymore."

"Is that such a good idea? It'll be painting targets on our backs… showing the Mog's exactly where we are."

"Believe me, if we wipe this base out, the Mogadorians will be the ones running from us. You may not know this, or believe it, but the Mogadorians are terrified of you, all of you. They may play the monster card, but they are shaking in their boots at what you guys are becoming. That is why they are pursuing you, to destroy you before you join up. They've failed. Even if we can't find the other, Kayla, Six, John and you are an amazingly powerful group of people. And it's an honor for me to see it happening."

They sit in silence for a long while, watching the building before them. Save for a plastic bag blowing in the wind, there is no movement. They'd been there for an hour now. The Cepan finally sighs, maybe the paranoia was getting to him. He turns the key in the ignition, going to leave, with Five hits him on the chest. "Damien…"

The Cepan looks out the windscreen, his mouth dropping open in shock. "Oh my god…"

_**20 minutes later**_

"You cheated!" Sam throws his cards down, and Kayla and I both start laughing.

"I didn't," Kayla replies, taking the matchsticks from the middle, which were using due to lack of money and gambling chips. "Keep in mind I've been playing Poker since I was 6."

"Okay Kayla I don't know what the rules are on Lorien, but gambling at that age is illegal on this planet!"

I smile, tossing my cards into the middle just as the apartment door opens and Ben comes walking in, a stoic expression on his face. Damien follows him in, shutting the door behind him. Both kill what little happy feeling the card game had brought like a sledgehammer onto a wine glass. "What did you find out?" Six demands. I hadn't even realized she had come into the room.

"It's a Mogadorian settlement alright… They've got a least two of those beasts that attacked you at Paradise, and I'm pretty sure they have a Ryion."

"And a Ryion with be…?" Sam stands up slowly.

"A huge four-legged beast. Think of it like a rhino armored with scales, with poison fangs and claws on steroids and a _very_ bad temper. If you're hit by this thing, you're dead. A settlement this well protected, I have to guess that they have a..." Damien says a word in Loric that has everyone in the room completely confused. He pauses, thinking. "I don't know the English translation for them. Due to a very rare genetic anomaly, a one in a ten thousand chance, a Mogadorian can be born with the ability to read your mind, through skin contact. They are physically completely blind. Some on our home planet called them _Seers. _There are so few left, but if there is one on earth, I am pretty sure it'll be housed here. I have never seen a settlement this well defended before…" he lets his sentence trail off, and I find myself looking at Six. Her expression is clear for me to read, 'just another friggin thing we have to deal with'.

Sam breaks the long silence. "They sound creepy."

"They _are_ creepy," Damien replies. "No matter what happens, you can't let them get to you…"

"So even with all these things, a Ryion and a possible Seer, you want us to attack them?" I ask for all of us.

"I will leave that decision up to you. If you decide to attack it, I will be with you. And if you choose to run…"

"I'm not running." We all turn to Kayla, who looks at each of us. The happy smiling girl has been replaced by a straight-faced woman with a genuinely scare expression on her face. "They killed my Cepan, the only family I had, and they almost killed me. I want to see the look on their faces when they realize I'm still alive. I don't want to run anymore."

"Neither do I," Six steps to Kayla's side.

"You already know my vote," Ben says from the couch. The three then look to me, waiting for my reply.

"I'm ready when you are."

Damien can't hide his pride at the 5 people before him, even Sam. "If we are going to do this, our main priority is going to be the Ryion. If the Mogadorians get the chance to set that beast on us, this is going to be the quickest battle ever."

"So, how do you kill something that's indestructible?" Ben asks.

"You don't," Kayla replies, lifting up her head from her hands. "You turn it against it's owners."

"That's exactly what I thought!" Damien's clearly pleased by Nine's intuition. "The Ryion's an animal, and an animal's loyalty only goes so far. If we play around with it, aggravate it, it'll attack anyone and anything. Hopefully it'll do most of our job for us."

"And we aggravate it how?" Six asks.

"That's where you and Kayla's elemental legacies come into play. Ryion's hate fire. It you sneak in close, and blast it with flames, that thing will go crazy."

"And the two girls will be right there," Sam mumbles. "That doesn't sound like a good place to be."

"We don't mind," Kayla and Six say in unison, shooting each other a look.

"I'll work out the game plan over a day or two, we can't attack it anything with John and Kayla being in the condition they're in. Rest up, do your training when you can. Three days from now, we're going to attack…"

_**AN: Once again, please review, tell me what you think. I'm working on the next chapter now. **_


	17. Chapter 17

_**AN: Alrighty, first things first, a big big BIG thanks to everyone who reviewed, I seriously read every single one of them, they mean so much to me! **_

The night of our attack has come far quicker then I had thought it would. 3 days passes in a blink of an eye when you're in wait of something you dread. I feel guilty as I dress for tonight. All I can think about is what Sarah would be saying if she knew what I was doing. Walking voluntarily into battle with a Mogadorian settlement that could possibly be holding the most difficult creatures to destroy sounded like a pretty stupid and reckless thing to do, the very thing I told her I _wouldn't _do... I can almost see her now, standing before me with her hands on her hips, her huge green eyes fixed to mine, an eyebrow raised high, lips pursed. _"What do you think you're doing?"_ her voice wafts through my head.

"Yo, John, you ready?" Sam asks, popping his head through the door.

"Yeah," I say. "You?"

"Nope, absolutely not, not even close," Sam comes in, shutting the door behind him. "I'm kind of seriously freaking out. The last three nights, I've been having this horrible recurring nightmare about a blind Mogadorian touching my face and raping me of my thoughts."

"Ugh, did you have to use the word 'rape'? That's disgusting."

Sam ignores me. "A Seer? I mean, are you kidding me? The normal Mogadorians are bad enough, now we've got to battle some freaky abomination." He is pacing around the room in short jerking steps, and I step in front of his path, stopping him in his tracks.

"Sam, none of us would judge you if you sat this one out. You've done so much for us already."

"I'll judge myself," Sam mumbles. "Besides, if you all die, what am I going to do?"

"Well, that's true," I give a slightly nervous laugh. "You'll be fine, man. I saw Ben fighting in the church, he won't let anything happen to you."

"Right, of course. Another reason I'm freaking out."

"Why? Because of Ben?"

"Ah, yah! In case you haven't realized, we are kind of having this little battle over winning Six's affections, albeit not a physical one, the dude can break me in half. Why Damien decided to pair us up for this battle is beyond me!"

I shake my head at him. "Look, Ben may be a lot of things, but when it comes down to it, he's got your back, alright? And he won't let this love triangle thing get in the way. Neither should you." There's a knock on my door. "Come in."

Kayla walks in. She's dressed in jeans and a black singlet, and she's wearing her Lorien necklace. "We are ready to leave when you guys are." Sam nods his head at her, taking a deep breath and leaving the room. I notice Kayla's eyes follow him from the room.

"Are you feeling up for this?" I ask her, taking a seat on the foot of my bed. Bernie moves to my side, resting his head on my thigh. She moves to the window, looking out to the stars above for the longest time, and I watch her. It's so different looking up into space and knowing there is so much more up there. That _you're _part of something more. It was a thing I've noticed all of us do, Six, Ben and I. It was like the stars above almost hypnotized us for a moment.

"You know," she says without breaking her gaze. "Allison, my Cepan, was like a mother to me. A real mother. She hated having to train me to fight, she only wanted to protect me, and make sure I was never hurt. We were able to elude the Mogadorians for so long… and then when they finally found us, I froze…" She looks down, and I see the tears in her eyes from here. "They attacked so fast, but I should have been able to do something. One second she was there, and then the next she was gone. She was alive, happy, smiling. And then all I heard was screaming for me to run. I didn't get a chance to say goodbye, or thank you, or that I loved her." I swallow down my own sadness. At least Henri and I did get to say one last goodbye, although it didn't make the parting any easier. "I can't shake this feeling that I could have done something. Allison always went on about how amazing our powers were, and that we had no idea what we were capable of. And all I can think about is why I couldn't have saved her?" She starts crying now, silent tears falling on the windowpane, her shoulder shaking slightly. "And how do I know it's not going to happen again tonight? What if one of you is in danger, and I'm not fast enough or strong enough to save you?"

"You will be strong enough, Kayla. There isn't a doubt in my mind." I stand up and move over to her, putting a hand to her shoulder. "We can't change the past…" I swallow. "But we can choose how we want our future to go. So I fight for Henri, to avenge his death and the destruction of our home planet, but I also fight for humans, for Sarah. I fight so she can have a future, and I can live it out with her."

"You're lucky you have someone like that."

"I am," I say truthfully. "But there's a match out there for everybody. And when we go into battle tonight, fight for them."

"Thanks John." She puts her hand on mine for a small moment, before heading back to the door. I look out to the moon, thinking about Henri. "Four?"

"Yes?" I turn to Kayla.

"I would really like to meet Sarah someday."

I smile. "You will. I promise." She leaves the room, and I pull my phone from my pocket, bringing up my message box. _I love you_, I send the message to Sarah's phone. I did it often, and I hope she doesn't find anything odd about it. In case anything happened tonight… I wanted her to know that I did love her. And after this battle, I was going to get her.

Damien steps into my room. "Come on, John. Let's go."

"""""

We are all gathered around the bonnet of our Merc parked a fair way from the power station, going over the plan for tonight. "Six and Kayla, you'll move straight into the main warehouse while Six keeps you invisible. The Ryion is definitely in there."

"How do you know?" I ask.

"They deliver 3 trucks full of meat into that warehouse everyday," Ben answers. "The other flying beasts they keep in one of the containers in the corner."

Damien continues, looking at both girls. "You need to hit the Ryion with your fire, and hit it hard. There will be no time to let the flames build. And it'll panic, the second it sees flames. So you need to get out of there as fast as possible. John and Bernie, I want you to the left of that warehouse, you two focus on the flying beasts. The Mogadorians will release them immediately, and they will fly around until they find the threat…"

"Us…" Sam swallows.

"We've got it," I say quickly, looking down at the beagle at my feet.

Damien nods his head once. "Ben and Sam, you'll come from the right. Keep out of the battle until the Mogadorians have left the warehouse. Let them scatter and then pick them off. I'll go after the ones that try to escape. Our main priority is the Ryion."

"We've got it, Damien," Six says impatiently, tilting from heel to toe. She hated this waiting around; she wanted to get into this battle!

"One last thing. Be as careful as you can, keep a level head. Things are going to get crazy." Damien steps back. "I'll see you all on the other side." He leaves, and Ben and Sam amble off into the darkness. I turn to Six, stepping close to her.

"I'm not going to bother telling you to be careful… I know you won't be," I say, and she just shrugs her shoulders. "But promise me you won't die," I add with a helpless shrug.

"I'll promise if you promise," she says right back, giving me a rare smile.

"I promise I'll try not to die."

"Ditto."

"I think that kind of goes for all of us," Kayla says quietly. "We should get going." I nod my head, releasing a nervous breath, before I walk off to my post, each step feeling like a weight to my shoulders.

Six watched him walk off in the darkness, and then turned back to Kayla. She was eager to see what this girl was capable of. They moved closer in, as close as they dared while remaining visible, and waited. Damien had synchronized their watches; everything had to be precise for this to work. They had 2 minutes to go before they started their attack, leaving nothing to do but wait.

Six did this thing before she had to fight, a little preparation ritual almost. She would let her surroundings disappear into an unfocused haze, and she would think back to her visions, the ones she had when she inherited her legacies. Seeing the destruction of her home planet, having to stand idly by and watch as the Mogadorians tore through the homes of her people, destroying anybody that got in their way drove her crazy. And then having to watch as a huge grotesque Mogadorian soldier stabs her grandfather through the chest with its sword, and then pull it out just to impale her grandmother in exactly the same fashion. Seeing this awakens in Six an even more intense burning hatred for the Mogs, and everything that they had done, and were going to do. This anger is what she needs when she fights, when she kills…

"Six."

Six quickly blinks away the memory, turning to a concerned Kayla at her side. "Yeah, what is it?"

"We've got about a minute left of the clock, but this waiting around is killing me. No time like the present to die, right?"

"We are not going to die. Between you, John, Ben and I, we have got this covered. And if all else fails, there's always Bernie, Damien and Sam." Six turns to look at the huge ominous warehouse before them, so big it blocked the moon from sight where they stood. She sighs, "I don't know what we are going to find in there.."

"We'll deal with it when it comes," Kayla holds out a hand to Six. "Let's give these assholes a taste of their own medicine."

"Couldn't have said it better myself." Six takes her hand, and the two disappear from sight.

"""""

Ben is fidgeting. He never used to fidget. In fact, seeing people do it always pissed him off. What was the point in it anyway? They should just sort out whatever mess was bothering them instead of sitting there, wearing the skin on their hands right off. He hated this waiting around, but it was part of Damien's plan, and granted, it had its merits. Damien may have his faults, but when it came to planning and strategy, his Cepan was near flawless. Ben didn't like having to stand by and let the girls do the hard, dangerous stuff. It didn't seem right. He guessed it was just that inner need to be the hero, and the fact that Six was currently waltzing straight into enemy territory. His hands start moving before him again.

"Can you quit it!" Sam hit Five's arm in frustration. "You are making me more nervous, which, honestly, I didn't think was possible."

Ben sighs, "I can't help it."

"Yes you can, just put your arms to the side!"

Sam felt pretty weird being paired with Ben for this mission. He would have preferred John, but Damien had Four and Bernie around the other side. They had the fun task of taking out those nasty flying beasts that Sam remembers from his high school in paradise. Once the girls got the Ryion up and moving, that's when Ben and Sam would move in. Sam checked his weapon for the fiftieth time, before looking back to the building. Six would no doubt be in there now, risking her life… "You know I've liked her from the moment I met her." He keeps his eyes forward as he speaks. "I mean, she has always been mean and sarcastic to me, but I still like her."

"I know."

"And you like her too."

Ben looks down at his hands, realizing he had been fidgeting yet again. "I think I love her."

Sam swallows down his shock over Ben's confession. It was genuine, Sam could tell by his voice. There was no faking that emotion. Ben was even a little surprised himself, but saying it aloud just made him even more sure. Despite her retorts, he insults, and her insatiable need to torment him, Ben had fallen in love with her. And it sucked even more knowing it wasn't reciprocated, God, he envied John. To be able to love someone the way Loriens can, and to have them love you back.

"Loriens only love once…" Sam says slowly.

"So I'm kinda screwed then," Ben gives a small laugh. "Trust me to fall for a girl who has no interest in me." Ben peeps out from behind the container where he and Sam had been hiding. "I think you're a good guy, Sam, a million times more decent then I am. If I had to pick any man on this planet for Six to end up with other then me, it would be you. But I'm not gonna give up on her… not until she chooses."

"And if she chooses me?"

"Then… I'll just have to accept it," Ben mumbles. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"If Six chooses me?"

Sam takes a breath, forcing himself to consider the option. "It'll suck, but.. I guess I'll just accept that it too."

"So we have an agreement," Ben holds out his hand, and Sam shakes it. The two look back out to the container, and Sam starts fidgeting now. What was taking them so long…?

"""""

Bernie and I had circled around the back of the warehouse, and I had used a heavy pair of wire cutters to cut a hole through the chain-link fence, squeezing through and taking cover behind a heavy metal container. "You alright buddy?" I whisper to the beagle at my side.

"_I am fine, John. Ready to fight for you." _

I crouch down, petting my Chimera on the head. He truly was the most loyal friend I had. He would fight to the death for me, he had already proven it back in Ohio. And we had another battle on our hands now. I peer out to the warehouse, I can see light coming from the glass lining the top. I check my watch, the girls should be in there by now. What was taking them so long…

The ground beneath my feet starts shaking, like a small earthquake that's increasing in strength with each passing second. I stumble around, trying to brace myself against something as I attempt to keep my footing. I hear a ear-splitting roar, like a lion and bird screaming as one. It's so loud and shrill that I have to cover my ears with my hands in an attempt quell it. The side of the concrete warehouse slams into pieces as _something_ breaks through with enough strength and velocity to turn concrete to dust. There's fire burning inside, I can't see the flames licking up the walls, and I can make out the figures of Mogs running around, yelling in their language as the flames grow higher.

I see the beast now, the one causing the ground to shake.

It's bucking like an angry mustang horse, kicking its legs out behind it, tossing its heavy head to and fro. Its four legs are as thick as tree trunks. I count three horns protruding from its face, heavy armored scales covering its entire body. It has five talons on each foot, which Damien had told us are poisonous, and teeth that overlap and jut from its mouth, like a sharks do. _"You must run, John. It can smell you." _Bernie's voice says in my head, but I can't concentrate on him. I can only look forward, transfixed at the beast before me.The Ryion turns its head, and I know it's found me. "_Run, now, John!" _I turn to see Bernie is growing in size as he pleads with me to escape. The Ryion is now loping for me, it's footsteps shaking the earth, rumbling in my ears. It seems to bring me back to reality, and I turn and sprint, leaping atop one of the containers lying around, and running. I barely make it off before the container is thrown through the air as the beast collides with it, its horns slicing straight through the metal and tossing it like a feather. I land on the ground, tripping forward as I try to regain my footing. The Ryion is on my tail, and it paws the earth, before charging after me again. I stumble over some iron beams lying in the darkness, and I hit the dirt on my back. I start to crawl back with my elbows, but the Ryion is so close now. It makes a final leap towards me, and then Bernie's there. My Chimera in this form is massive, but still a little dwarfed by this colossal beast. Bernie hits the Ryion onto its side, lunging for its throat. Bernie gives me enough of the chance to get back to my feet, before he is thrown away, slamming in a heap 10 feet away. He lies unmoving. The Ryion focuses on me again, snorting, and I can see the puffs of air come from its nostrils in the darkness.

I sprint away, and hear a screeching noise in the sky above. I look up to see one of the other flying beasts sailing through the air, one wing burning with fire. It spirals out of control like a fighter plane shot down, and hits the ground 10 feet from me.

The Mogadorians are running around in shock as they try and make out what is going on. They clearly didn't expect an attack on their fortress. I wonder if they'll expect this? I turn and run directly at them, and the Ryion starts right after me, snorting like a bull, head down. The Mogadorians spot me, and begin firing their rifles. I duck and dodge as many shots as I can, continuing straight for them. As I near, their attention turns from me to the oncoming charge of the beast, and they begin scrambling, some even firing on the Ryion itself. I duck down, slamming into a Mog with my shoulder. We both hit the ground, bumping along the dirt. I get in a lucky punch as my other hand struggles to pull my dagger from the pocket of my jeans. I'm not quick enough, and the Mog gets his legs under me, booting me off of him and sending me skidding along the dirt.

Just in time.

The Ryion charges straight over the Mogadorian who I had wrestled, crushing him to pulp beneath its heavy weighted feet. I scurry up, getting to my feet and running once again. I can see the others in my peripheral vision now. Ben is right in the heat of battle, punching and kicking Mogs this way and that like a modern day Bruce Lee. And Sam is a little further away from the main battle, picking off Mogs left and right with his shots. He rarely misses. I can't see the girls, or Damien, but I didn't really stop to look. In the darkness, the battle is more intense, everything seems to move faster, every move more vital. If I hesitated even for a second, I was dead.

I hear the telltale screech of another _Ohio_ beast, this one seemed in tact, circling above the battle as it searched for a target. It chose me, diving at me like a hawk to its prey. I'm waiting for it though, and when it nears close enough, I power up my Lumen, shooting the light straight into the flying beasts eyes. It shrieks and banks to the left to avoid the light, right into the waiting jaws of Bernie, who leaps up and captures the beast by the throat, tearing it down to the ground and ripping away at it's flesh. Two down, I think, one giant ass to go! The Ryion is charging this way and that, and the Mogadorians have given up trying to attack it. They run back and forth and try to avoid it as much as possible.

I get back into the heat of the battle, alternating between using my Lumen and telekinesis to attack, dodging a Mog's punches and slices and stabbing out with my dagger. I was getting good now at reading a Mogadorians attack. Not as good as Six, who seemed almost telepathic in her ability to guess a Mog's attack, but eighty percent of the time, I picked correctly a Mogs actions, and the other 15 percent, I caught a punch to the jaw or got thrown around. If I let my body go limp, the fall didn't really affect me too badly, nothing more then a graze.

There are a lot of Mogadorians here though. It seemed for every Mog I killed, there were five more running forwards. I don't know how long I've been fighting for now. Moving fast, I side-step a Mogadorians swing at me, and knee him in the chest, bringing my elbow down on the back of his neck and then stabbing him straight through the back, effectively bringing him to an end.

That's when I feel the hand grip on my arms. I try to turn, but I'm immobilized by the two Mog's who have taken hold of me. They start to drag me a little further from the others, and I cry out but Ben and Sam can't hear me over the sound of the battle. I struggle in the arms of the Mogadorians. These soldiers have got an iron grip, holding my arms behind my back, keeping me stock-still. They don't try and kill me though, they just hold me in this jail grip, which could only mean one thing.. I see something coming closer that drains the blood clear from my face.

A Mog is being led out of the warehouse towards me, flanked by 5 heavily armed Mogadorians who keep anyone at bay. This Mogadorians eyes are white against the night sky, glowing eerily. _Now matter what happens_, Damien's voice repeats in my head, _You can't let them get to you._ I scream and yell for help, straining against the hold on me, but to no avail. I can't break out of their grasps alone, I need help. I can't see the others anywhere, and all I hear is gunfire and yelling.

The Seer moves closer. It's sickly looking, bent over, with pale skin like the moon, and a horrible withered hand with long sharp nails. A thing from children's nightmares. It's standing before me now, and it reaches out into the air, moving its hands to and fro as it tries to find the skin of my face. I instinctively dodge its fingers as much as possible, until the Mog's holding me hit me in the stomach, making me double over.

The Seers hand brushes my cheek, and that's when the shrieking starts within my mind.

I start yelling, crying out in desperation, but I can't hear my own voice over the sound in my head, a thousand voices screaming at once. Memories flash before my eyes one by one, I can't stop it, or escape them, each flying past in a split second. I see the first school I went to, I see Barry James' cat, I see Ms. Finch looking down at me from the blackboard with a smile, and then the memories fly passed once more. They stop on Henri's grinning face in the sunlight, I remember this memory. We were at a beach in California, he'd just tried surfing and failed miserably at it. The memory is replaced of one of Henri and I in Ohio, on the lawn practicing with the tennis balls. Then the memories running to and from high school with Bernie. I see me inheriting my Lumen in class, then the memories flash by again, like the Seer is seeking something in particular.

Then Sarah's face comes into view. "No…" I cry out immediately, my cheeks wet, but there is nothing I can do to stop the Seer. Sarah laughing, dancing, taking photos, the images swirl through my head. The memory of us holding hands on the Halloween ride, of our first kiss, of me holding her close in my arms back in that motel room. I hear a weird hissing noise, and I realize with a start the Seer is laughing. It knew where Sarah was.

My Lumen bursts from me in an uncontrollable wave of pure light. It doesn't just come from my palms, but from every inch of my skin. I lift in the air with a yell, feeling the power flow from me. The Seer and all the Mogadorians surrounding me are all thrown back, screaming as the light burnt into their skin. I fall in a pile to the ground, struggling to get up despite exhaustion, with the goal of finding that Seer and tearing its heart from its chest, if it even had one. Anything to keep Sarah safe! But I don't get the chance…

The Ryion has found me.

It's claws slice down my chest, tearing flesh and skin and muscle, and it drops its head and charges me. I go sailing through the air, crashing to the ground for the millionth time that night, nothing but a bloody hunk of flesh. The fight is gone from me. I know this injury is deadly, the poison of the Ryion claws burns and hisses on the raw muscle. I look up to see the beast charging at me, it's eyes fixed deadly to mine. I brace myself for the hit that would no doubt be the end of me, but it doesn't come.

Opening my eyes, worn out to the point of unconsciousness, I see Kayla before me. She's bent down low, like a samurai facing it's enemy, and her hand is held out to the beast. Through the haze overwhelming my vision, I can make out the Ryion tossing it's head to and fro, like it knew something foreign was in it's mind, but it could not shake free of the illusion forced upon it.

Kayla held her grasp over the Ryions mind, keeping it confused. "Now!" she yells out.

Ben and Six appear, and run forward immediately from their hiding places. Six leaps a top of the beasts head without hesitation, stabbing her dagger into the soft flesh of it's neck as quickly as she could, while Ben moves beneath it, taking hold of one of it's legs and jerking it, snapping the bone. The Ryion breaks from it's illusion at the pain, and immediately starts roaring and throwing its body around in a crazed manner. Six is dislodged quickly, and she tumbles to the ground, hitting her head hard and laying still. Ben dodges between the Ryion's legs as it tries to crush him, and he balls up his hand, throwing it upward. The telekinetic force from his palms hits the beast on the stomach, and the Ryion is knocked up into the air, landing a good 10 feet away. Ben doesn't waste a second. He tears after it, and he sees Kayla running by his side. Nine makes the jump for the Ryions throat, using her dagger to slice it open while Ben beats down on the Ryion wildly. But it's up again quickly, knocking both Loriens onto their backs.

"God, why won't this thing die?" Ben yells in frustration as the injured beast struggles to keep it's footing. Five jumps up and helps Kayla to her feet as the Ryion limps closer, still not ready to give up the fight. Ben sucker punches it right on the face, and the Ryion seems a little taken aback for a second at being punched. It had probably never been punched by a human or Lorien before. It shakes the blow off, and steps closer. A blue beam of energy flies passed the side of Ben's face, close enough to blow his hair, and hits the Ryion right on the eye, making it reel back in surprise. Ben turns to see Sam in the far distance, pistol raised. Say what you want, but that guy could _shoot_. He fires again, hitting the Ryion on the face once more, startling it.

"Come on," Kayla says. "Let's take this thing down." Ben and she move forward. The Ryion is sluggish, slow in its movements. Kayla tosses her dagger into the air and jumps up after it, taking hold of one of the beast's horns. She holds out her hand, and her Lorien dagger lands in her palm. She digs the blade deep into the beast's neck and drags it along, panting in exertion at cutting through the beast's tough skin. It gurgles and cries as she cuts along, and Kayla feels pity for the immense monster, thrown unwillingly into this battle. It tosses it's head one final time, and Kayla falls to the ground. Before she can dodge, it brings a heavy foot onto her chest. She splutters as the air is pushed from her lungs, and she knows at the very least, some of her ribs are shatter. She holds a painful hand to her chest, watching as Ben throws his hands back and forward again and again, hitting the beast with powerful kinetic punches, having it sidestep to stay up. He runs forward, and with a desperate cry, uppercuts the beast in the side. It is the final blow.

The Ryion stops trying to fight, standing still, puffing tiredly, it's huge shuddering body covered in burns and cuts, with warm red blood spilling out onto the dirt. It folds onto it's front legs, and then to it's back, like a horse settling in the grass. Then the Ryion lies to one side, exhaling it's last breath.

There is silence. The surviving Mogs have all retreated, run far away while they had been distracted taking the Ryion down. The battle was over. They had won…

"""""

Six helps me to my feet, but I push her to the side as Damien pulls up in our car, opening up the side door and the boot, which he had packed with medical supplies. I can tell by the look on his face that he's worried over the state of my injury. I purposely haven't looked yet. By the pain I'm feeling, I can't imagine it's good at all. Ben is carrying Kayla in his arms, she is clutching at her stomach, and he lays her gently in the front seat of the Mercedes, turning to face us. Sam is walking up, hopping every second step like he'd hurt his leg. I can't bring myself to care, because despite their injuries and my own, my mind is focused on one thing. "The Seer… did anyone kill the Seer?" I ask desperately. Six shakes her head, and my heart gives a double thump. Kayla gives one shake, and Damien and Sam follow suit.

"I didn't even know there _was _a Seer," Ben admits.

I snap into action, trying to move to the car. "He knows about Sarah, _they _know about Sarah!" I can barely breathe, and my vision starts getting spots. "I need to get to Ohio, they'll go after her, I _know _they will!"

"You can't go anywhere, not with your injuries," Ben states immediately.

"I don't care," I snap back.

"Be reasonable, Four," Damien steps forward tentatively like someone would approach a wild animal. "You won't make the airport with your injury, the venom from the Ryion is toxic to your system. You need to let it heal."

"No!" I cry with a vicious shake of my head.

"Sit down, John!" Six tries to push me away from the car but I move her hands aside with ease.

"Get out of my way, Six!" I warn her, trying to move past her again. "The Mogadorians…" I pause and wince, the pain is strengthening now, I feel a burn in my veins. "They know about Sarah, they'll go after her! They'll kill her." The thought is like a fire to my bones. I would die before I let them hurt her, I'd die before I let them _touch _her.

Six steps before me again, locking her blue eyes to my own. "You can't go, you're bleeding. Once the adrenaline wears off, you'll go into shock. Sit down, let Damien clean you up, let it heal."

"No!" I cry, and I shove Six away without thinking. She goes flying back into the Mercedes, crashing into it with enough force to dent the side and shift the car a few inches from where it was parked. Sam watches on with wide eyes, in shock at what I had just down. Ben moves forward without hesitation, lifting me bodily and forcing onto the ground. "Calm down John. I don't want to hurt you but I will, dammit John, if you make me, I will!" I can tell he's as shocked as Sam, but he's also pissed off. Extremely pissed off.

"Please, Ben… they're going after Sarah, you have to help her! Please!" My visions fading, and I know it's because of the loss of blood. My movement, my panic was forcing the toxin further through me. But I can't help myself. The Mogadorians were after Sarah. My Sarah. I see Damien walk toward me, a syringe in his hands, and try to get out from under Ben's grasp, but he's too strong. The needle pierces my skin, and my vision disappears completely…

"""""

Sam runs over to Six, holding out his hand and helping her to her feet. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?" he asks in a panicked voice, looking her over. The dent in the car is massive.

Six nods, putting a hand on her back. "Nothing I can't handle," she mumbles, trying to regain her composure over John's sudden outburst. Damien removes the syringe, tossing it to the side. He tears the remnants of John's shirt from his body, and he involuntarily grimaces as he surveys the damage.

"Oh my god…" Kayla says from her seat, a hand over her mouth as she sees the damage on Four's body. Huge claw cuts rake down his chest, deep red blood and muscle everywhere. It's hard to believe he was even alive, let alone walking and talking.

Damien gets to work immediately, cleaning the wound free of dirt, and wiping any toxins that remain. "Loriens heal faster then humans, if you give them a chance. Hopefully Four's body is strong enough to fight the toxin off. He needs to rest. In a few days, he'll be as good as new. We need to get him back to the hotel room though. I need proper light, he's definitely going to need stitches."

Sam checks his pistol, before turning on his heel and heading away. Six and Ben watch after him, sharing a confused look, before they both follow after him. "Where are you going?" she demands.

"To go get Sarah," Sam replies.

"No you're not," Six snaps immediately.

Sam turns to face the blonde girl, pointing a finger at the unconscious form of his friend on the dirt. "You heard John, Six. The Mogadorians know about Sarah, they'll go after her. What the hell do you think John is going to do when he wakes up and finds out the love of his life has been killed? I'm not going to let that happen." Sam looks out to the road, sighing. "I know I'm probably going to get my ass kicked to hell…" he looks Six in the eye. "But I can't just sit here and do nothing."

He goes to move away, but Six grabs Sam's arm, stopping him from moving and taking the pistol from his hands in one smooth motion. "You're not going..."

"It's too dangerous, Sam," Ben puts in calmly. "None of us are any shape to fight now…"

"Look," Sam turns to Five, "I don't know you that well, but I know John, he's my best friend. If you're big mission is to bring the Loriens together, have them united, we _need _to keep Sarah Hart safe," Sam looks between Ben's defiant eyes and Six, whose own eyes are facing the ground. "If she dies, John is going to follow her. You know he will Six… you know him better then any of us. Please… please."

Six looks up finally. "You're not going Sam…" She takes a breath. "I am."

"What?" The two guys demand immediately.

"You can't, Six. If John is right, Paradise is going to be crawling with Mogadorians," Ben says, stepping towards her.

Six holds up a hand to him. "What Sam said is true, Ben. If Sarah Hart dies, John isn't going to be able to handle it… he loves her, alright. John loves her. And I need to keep her safe. Besides," Six checks the pistol in her hand, lost for a moment in thought. "It's not her war…" she sighs, squeezing her eyes shut for a small moment, trying to force the image of John's injuries from her mind. "It's not her war, it's ours."

"Let me come with you," Sam takes Six's hand into his own, rubbing his thumb over the top of her hand, holding it close to him. "I can help."

She shook her head once, and he saw her blue eyes are glassy. A single tear falls onto her cheek. "Sam, you can't come with me... not this time."

"I'm a good shot, Six, you said so yourself," he says desperately, stepping closer to her, now oblivious to Ben and the others, his sole focus on the girl before him.

"No," Six is barely holding it together now, her voice thick with buckets of tears threatening to fall.

"Six, just hear me out…"

She cuts him off. "Sam, listen to me, and try not to interrupt or say some stupid joke," Six turns his face to hers with a hand on his cheek, looking him straight in the eye. "If you come, I won't be able to concentrate on what has to be done, what I need to do. The only thing I need to focus on is getting Sarah Hart and if you're there…" she bites her bottom lip. "Sam, if you're there, all I'll think about is keeping you safe." He listens, stunned at Six's untimely confession. And then she's kissing him. Her lips are pressed roughly to his own, wet from her tears. It's over before he can even process it. "Stay here, and try to keep John calm... I need you to tell him that Sarah is going to be alright, Sam." She drops her hand from his cheek, and Sam stands there like a statue wondering what the heck just happened.

One thing was crystal clear. Six cared about him a lot more then she had ever let on.

Ben stands by, his face emotionless as he tries to hide the crushing feeling within his chest. "I'll come," he steps forward. "I can handle myself."

Six shakes her head at Ben too. "You need to stay here and make sure John doesn't kill himself on some sort of heroic suicide rescue mission. You're the only one here that can keep him under control."

"You can't go alone, Six."

She manages a smile, backhanding away her tears. "Don't worry. I won't."

_**AN: Please review and let me know what you guys think, you guys are the reason this story is getting so long!:) **_

_**Oh, on a completely different topic, I was talking/arguing with my cousin on whether it's easier to write while you're listening to music or not. Thoughts anyone?**_


	18. Chapter 18

_**AN: First off, a huge THANK YOU to everyone who reviewed, and let me know what they thought, I appreciate every single one of them.**_

_**Just a few things I wanted to say before I completely forget: **_

_**I know the second book in the series 'The Power Of Six' is coming out soon, and a prolouge has been realeased. Since I started writing this story before that, my fanfiction won't be canon to that second story. I tried looking into changing mine to fit that, but then I got majorly confused so I had to scrap the whole idea :)**_

_**And pretty much every single person said they find writing to music easier then writing without, thus proving me right in the argument, thank you all! **_

_**Anyway, on with the story…**_

_Have you ever had a dream, where while you are asleep, your dream is being influenced by something going on in reality, whether it's knocking on the door, people talking in the background, or that moment where you fall from a cliff and wake up to find yourself falling from your bed to the floor. _

_I'm standing on a hill, looking out at the most beautiful sunset ever. "You promised you would come for me…" I turn to see Sarah there, dressed in the clothes she wore to the Halloween carnival, from the beige cap to the grey sweater, every detail memorized perfectly in my brain. She's looking out over the sunset, the rays illuminating her face in warn golden light. _

"_I am going to come for you. We're going to be together." I step to her, putting my hands on her cheeks and leaning my forehead to hers, breathing in her scent, tears rolling from my eyes as I squeeze them shut. "I need you." She whispers to me, again and again, like a plea. "You can't die, John… you can't leave me."_

"_I won't. I promise." _

_And then the moment interrupted by the Mogadorian ships, breaking through the atmosphere, destroying the peace and the beauty. I open my eyes, and Sarah is gone now, disappeared right from my arms. I've had this dream countless times, I know what happens next. I'm almost waiting now for Henri to run to me, and take my hand. But he doesn't come. In his place instead, it is the Seer, limping towards me, it's white eyes rolled back into its head, and it's clawed hands reaching through the air as it searched me out. I can't move my feet, can't do anything to stop it from getting to me. When it does, instead of touching my face, it's clawed fingers rake down my chest, and my blood pours to the ground. I scream out and yell, but I can do nothing to stop it. It's keeps it up until my chest is nothing but bloody muscle and flesh, blazing under its touch._

And that's when I wake.

Damien is leaning over me, trying to make me calm down, but I still scream out, my arms flying out before me as I try and fend the Mogadorian off. The Seer is still there, in my head, raiding my thoughts, finding out about Sarah. I can feel hands holding me down at the shoulders, I know it must be Ben, because I can barely move under their touch. I look down wildly, and see my chest, crying out once more. My chest is nothing but a mass of stitches and blood, bandages rolled everywhere over my skin. "Oh god… Sarah!" I call out, trying to break free from Ben's grasp. The Mogadorians were going to get Sarah, they were going to kill Sarah… I feel cool ice run through the veins in my arms, and everything becomes fuzzy once more as I am forced into a dreamless sleep.

"Why is he acting like this?" Sam asks from his place by the window, watching sadly as the Cepan inserts more anesthetic into John's arm, putting Four back to sleep.

"It's the toxin from the Ryion's claws," Damien replies through gritted teeth, nodding his head to Ben, who releases his grip from John's shoulders, panting at the effort to hold Four still. "It's making his delirious, not unlike those on your planet who are suffering from a sever fever. It often leads to fever dreams, intense nightmares that feel like reality. It doesn't help that the Seer got into his head either. The Seer mixed with the Ryion's poison is enough to drive any person to insanity. I'm afraid he's going to have to stay asleep until the toxin is gone from his system."

Ben looks down at Four, John looked dead. He was pale as a ghost, shivering every few seconds like he was freezing despite being piping hot to the touch. "How long does it take, for the poison to go?"

"48 hours, usually. But John's wounds are…" Damien swallows, packing up his medical tools without looking up. He didn't want to see Ben or Sam's face when he said what he was going to say. "They're extreme. Frankly, I'm surprised he managed to get out of it alive. When I saw them back at the power station, I thought he was going to die, I honestly did." He feels guilt on his part. After all, it had been Damien's idea to attack the settlement. As soon as he put it out there, he knew the Loriens would not be able to pass up the chance to attack. If Four were… if John were to die, the blood would be on Damien's hand. He may not to Four's protector, but he was damn well responsible for them all. He clenches his jaw, forcing himself to continue on when all he wanted to do was curl up in the corner and scream out why. "He's not out of the woods yet, not even close. There's a high probability that we could lose him any second."

Sam shakes his head viciously back and forth as soon as Damien finishes talking. "John's not going to die. He can't."

Ben nods his head in agreement. "Come Damien, he's not going to die. Look at him, despite how cut up he is, he's fighting to stay alive."

"He's fighting for Sarah," Sam puts in, folding his arms. "He's fighting through the injuries to get back to Sarah."

"Possibly," Damien says. "The Lorien bond is a powerful one," He sits down at John's side, and starts working away at the multiple wounds on his chest. "I just pray that if John makes it out of this, he has someone to come back too." Ben looks over to Sam, and the two guys are thinking the same thing.

_Fight hard, fight fast, Six, and come back to us._

""""""

Kayla had broken three of her ribs, but thankfully none had shifted too far out of place, and hadn't punctured her lungs or damaged any other vital organs. Frankly, that was a miracle and a half, since the Ryion had stamped her so hard she'd been pushed into the ground beneath. Damien had told her resting up, and trying not to move was the best way to let it heal, and he'd offered her pain medication but she didn't want any. She hated the drowsy feeling she got from painkillers. Her mind was her most powerful weapon, it's where she created her illusions from. Laying here on the couch by the window, doing nothing was single-handedly the most frustrating thing she had ever had to do. Kayla was tempted to use her illusion legacy on passerby's outside just so she had _something_ to do!

The battle had been a win for the Loriens. They had forced the Mogadorians from their comfy little base, killed three of their creatures and dozens of soldiers and scouts. More importantly, they had sent a clear message to the Mogadorians, wherever the other were. They were not waiting around, they were not hiding any longer. Their powers were here, and they were going to use them. For as long as Kayla can remember, the Mogadorians had been a constant fear in the back of her mind. That fear of being caught, discovered, killed, becoming nothing more then a memory and a scar. Now, with Ben and Four, Six and Sam, Damien and Bernie, the Mogs were no longer a creature to be feared. They were an enemy to be destroyed. For Allison.

But the battle had been a failure too, a big one. John had been hurt, seriously hurt. She tried not to look to close to Four's injuries, but Kayla saw enough to make her feel literally sick. There had been blood, skin, and raw exposed muscle. The Ryion's claws had torn John up in a bad way.

And then there was Six, who was on her way to Ohio to battle more Mogadorians, countless more, right after leaving the fight. She literally went straight to the airport from the power station, leaving us all too shocked and exhausted to argue with her, even to come up with a decent plan.

Kayla _hated_ having to lay here and do nothing. Damn that Ryion and it's huge freakin' foot!

"Hey, you alright?" She turned her head to the door.

"Fine."

"Really? 'Cause I can sense your anger from the lounge. Feels like my face is melting off," Ben steps into the room, shutting the door behind him. "I'm worried about Six too, believe me, but she can handle herself. Six is a badass, in every sense of the word."

"I know. She is an amazing fighter. Once we had the flames up, and the Mog's had figured out what was going on, she just, like, switched into action. I had never seen anybody move like that before, it's amazing… but she _just_ left a battle, Ben. Six is good, but she's not invincible."

"Try telling her that. She'll punch you in the stomach, believe me," he walks over, sitting on the couch by Kayla's feet. "If it were up to me, I wouldn't have let her go." Ben says. "But I get _why _she went. I haven't known John all that long, but I can tell that this girl, Sarah, she's the real deal with him. The way he reacted at the power station…"

"When he pushed Six?"

Ben nods. "They're close, like brother and sister. Seeing John do that proved to me that he cares about Sarah enough that he won't let _anybody_, whether it's a Mog, or us, get in the way. It's just," Ben runs a hand through his hair, pulling at it in a vein effort to relieve the stress and worry that has been plaguing him. "If Six dies trying to get Sarah… I don't know what I would do…" He takes a breath, trying to keep his anger in check. He had always had a problem with his anger, ever since he was young. Instinctively, Ben's hand reaches up to the scar on his face, the constant reminder he had of when his temper got out of control.

"Where'd you get your scar?" Her voice breaks him from his reverie.

"My scar?" he repeats, and she nods once. "You know, none of the others asked me about it before. I guess they think a Mogadorian gave it to me."

She shakes her head, and slowly reaches up and begins to unbutton her shirt from the collar down. Ben raises an eyebrow at her, and Kayla just rolls her eyes. "You wish," she jokes, before she pulls her shirt far enough down to reveal the sword wound. It was scarred over now. "Mogadorian blades scar blood red," she says, looking down at the scar on her shoulder. "Damien told me that the color will never fade." Re-buttoning her shirt back up with one hand, she looks the scar over on Ben's face. "You're scar is white, a normal knife wound. Did somebody attack you?"

He forces himself to think back to the night he got the scar. "I had…" he stops himself, taking a breath. "I _have_ an anger problem. When I'm mad, furious, I lose control of what I do, over my actions, everything. It's like the part of my brain that reasons just switches off. It happened about 2 years ago, I had just turned sixteen and I was sick to death of moving around. There was this girl…"

"Of course."

He gives Kayla a small smile. "She went to the school I did, her name was Emily, and we hung out, starting getting to know each other. She was kind of the first girl who took an interest in me, despite the fact that I was a total introvert who didn't talk to anybody because Damien told me I needed to stay hidden, and blend it. She took the time to talk to me, and I started to care about her. And then Damien tells me we're moving. I told him no, and we then start yelling at one another. He reminds me of my purpose, why I came to earth, and how I was letting my feelings get in the way of what I needed to do. He always reminded me of the sacrifices made to get me to earth, and I just... I got sick of it and I, I hit him…" Kayla listens intently to Ben as he speaks, knowing this subject was an difficult one for him to talk about. "I don't know what came over me, but there I was, attacking him. And Damien had to fight back. He knocked me off, tried to reason with me. I didn't listen, and went at him again, and that's when he reached for the kitchen knife…"

Kayla's mouth drops open "Oh my god…"

"As soon as he cut me, I snapped out of my haze. It was the last time I ever lost control again. Damien stitched me up right after, and I know he felt bad, still does… but I don't hold it against him. After that night, I swore to myself that I would never ever argue with Damien about moving again, and I never had. We still have our fights, but in the end, I know everything he does is for my benefit. And now, whenever I feel myself losing it, I just have to touch my scar. I had to at the power station, after I saw John shove Six against the car… I had to tell myself John wasn't in his right mind…"

Kayla could see Ben was upset about what he was talking about, and gave a small shrug. "Well, in the immortal words of Watts, 'You're losing it, and when it's lost, all you are is a loser," He raises an eyebrow in a 'what the hell are you on about' way, and Kayla waves him off. "Sam would know what I'm talking about."

"Huh?"

"It's from an 80's movie, '_Some Kind Of Wonderful'_. Sam's one of the only people I know who likes the same films I do. He's a good guy."

"I wouldn't look too much into it. He's like a love sick puppy for Six."

"Please, you're one to talk. Sam and I are just friends. Besides, not every relationship between a guy and a girl has to be about sex."

"It doesn't?" Ben slaps a hand over his mouth in mock shock. She laughs, and it hurts the hell out of her ribs, but she doesn't care. "I guess I have to get over my little crush on Six. She chose Sam, after all."

"She _kissed _Sam," Kayla reiterates. "Right after battling to the point of exhaustion and being pushed over by someone she trusts. Can't really say she was altogether that night."

Ben shrugs. "We were both standing there, and she kissed him, not me. Plus, Sam and I had a pact that as soon as she picked one, the other guy would bow out. I gave him my word…"

"And you can give up on her, just like that?"

"It's not going to be easy… But maybe it's for the best. Sam's a much better man then I am, I'm sure he's never lashed out at someone he's trusted before. And you're right, he is a good guy." He gives a small laugh. "You know, I've never even kissed a girl before? I try and portray like I'm a badass and everything. Pretty pathetic, huh?"

"Kissing is nothing special, unless you're kissing someone who like, here I'll show you," Kayla took the collar of Ben's shirt and pulled him to her, planting a kiss smack on his lips. Ben barely has time to register what had happened. "See," she gives a shrug.

"Uh…" Ben runs a hand through his hair. "Thanks?" he offers finally.

"No problem," she says, biting her bottom lip. "You really love her?"

"I think I do."

"That's romantic. I _think _I love you, it's what every girl wants to here."

"Well, how are you supposed to know, anyway? John tried explaining how he felt about Sarah to me, and I fell asleep half way through. It was just a bunch of 'can't live without hers' and 'every time I close my eyes, I see her face.' I swear he was going to burst into song any second."

"And is that how you feel about Six?"

Ben shifts on the couch. "This conversation is delving way too deeply into teenage girl territory for my taste. In a second, we're going to be painting each other's nails and you'll be plaiting my hair," he says, making her laugh again. He gets up, stretching out his back. "I'm going to leave you rest before our cycles start to synchronize. Just call if you need anything, kay?"

She nods her head. "I will. And Ben?"

He turns back to look at her.

"Thanks for telling me, about your scar…"

"Oh, yeah," he nods his head once. "No problem, thanks for uh… kissing me. But next time you have to tell me about some huge emotional thing that happened to you while growing up, then we can call it even."

"Deal."

_**Paradise, Ohio**_

"I told you, I'm just going to schools photography room to get my photo's developed, mom. It's not like I'm breaking my grounding rules, you said I was allowed to go to school and home, that's it," Sarah calls from the kitchen to her mother in the lounge.

"Well, you better be home by seven o'clock, otherwise I'm going to get your father to pick you up. How can even get in there, it's a Saturday."

"I have a key, since I'm supposed to be working on the yearbook this semester. Which I haven't even started on, because I haven't gone the photo's from the carnival yet. Now can you please stop worrying and let me go. Trust me, I'll be home tonight, John's not around."

"He better not be. And next time he comes by to kidnap you, he better damn well ask for my permission," her mother replies. Sarah smiles. After having a _loooong_ talk to her mother about John, leaving out the important parts, her mother had kind of grasped the fact that her Sarah was in love with him, truly in love. And even though she was still annoyed about the whole 'running away' thing, Sarah had regained her mother's trust.

She drove to the school, parking in the empty car park and heading into the building. The sky was setting now, the sky turning into the dark blue, right before the stars starting appearing. She unlocks the heavy double doors, heading in and relocking them behind her. The huge fluorescent-lit empty corridors of her school always gave her the creeps. Bad memories, she guessed, as she headed down into the darkroom, her footsteps the only noise in the silent corridor. She switches on the light, walking over to her station and getting started on her work.

The photo she pulls out is still dripping with water as she pegs it to the line of others. They were from the carnival, she had finally gotten around to developing the film. Some of the shots with her old camera had turned out really beautiful. She loved those light leaks. Somehow, they made imperfection look more striking then a faultless photograph.

She came to the darkroom often now, it was one of her favorite places.

It was where John first showed her his power, the stunning blue-white light the came from his hands. She remembered the feel of his skin as she ran her hand over his. It was so warm, she could almost feel its heat in her toes, spreading through her like wildfire.

She smiles as she thinks back to their last meeting at the motel. Awkward vision aside, she had never ever felt like she had when John had been kissing her. It was almost criminal anything could make her feel so alive, warm, electric, all at once. It was almost addiction; she doubted she would ever get enough. And that was just from his kisses, it was hard to imagine what actually sleeping with him would do to her already wired body. She smiles at all the images that come to her mind.

She steps forward to check on the other photos, lifting two of them out and pegging them.

Suddenly, the power goes out. The darkroom is now bathed in the orange light from the street lamps outside, further down the road. Straight away, the cold hand of fear reaches down and grips her throat, making it hard to breathe. '_It's just a power cut, Sarah. Just pack up you're stuff and go to you're car'_ she tells herself, but it doesn't help the fear go away.

Bad memories of last year come flooding back.

She never used to be afraid of the dark, not even when she was younger. It was amazing what knowledge did to a person. She _knew _now that there were aliens out there, horrible tall, nasty looking things with pointy teeth and pale skin. Some had red eyes, others were pitch black. She often saw them in her nightmares.

'_You're being ridiculous_.' Sarah packs up her gear, crouching down to pick up her camera bag. That's when the door to the darkroom opens slowly, creaking like an old horror movie. She doesn't know why, but she stays crouched, hidden from view to whoever was at the door. _'It's only a teacher, it's only a teacher, it's only a teacher_,' she leans out, shivering, and peers around the bench. Huge heavy boots, a trench coat that reaches the floor. Her eyes go to its face, and she sees blood red eyes.

She swings back behind the bench too fast, and her head bangs the cupboard. She shaking uncontrollably, like she's got pneumonia, and she can't stop. Her breathing comes out erratic, and it stops completely when she hears the monster take a step in her direction. It says something in a language she doesn't understand, a hideous, hissing sound that she knows will haunt her for the rest of her life, and then it speaks. "I smell you, girl."

Sarah has never been more petrified in her life. She had no weapon, no nothing. Even if she did, she wouldn't last one second against this thing. She hears it as it comes closer, each step as ominous as the next. She knows she should move, get up, run, fight, do anything, but fear as her glued to her place crouched behind the cupboard. _Oh God, John, please, John_,' she says a silent plea in her head as she hears the alien near.

And then it steps beside her, finally coming into view. It's barely half a meter away, and she looks up slowly into its burning eyes and it smiles wickedly. "Hello, beautiful."

Sarah lets out a blood-curdling scream, but not because of anything this alien did. It was because, at the very moment the words left it's mouth, something huge, the size of a pick-up truck, comes crashing through the wall from the outside, smashing glass and wood everywhere. In the dark, she can't really make it out, but it kind of has the head of a dog, and a huge spiky ball at the end of it's tail. It bowls into the Mogadorian, the two sailing through the wall into the hallway and possibly through multiple classrooms from the crashing sounds that followed.

Sarah manages to get to her feet, stumbling slightly as she surveys the damage that had been caused. This school just couldn't catch a break at all from alien attacks. She turns to the door and see two more of those aliens there, looking at the damage with as much shock as she did. Then one spots her, and lifts up its gun, anger covering its ugly face.

He doesn't let a shot off.

A blur of blue smoke shoots through the hole made in the wall, and flies straight into him. Sarah knew that smoke. She's seen it once before. Just before it reaches the soldier, Six appears out of thin air, firing two shots at the other Mogadorian, knocking him away and she collides with the gun-wielding first. The two hit the corridor skidding, and as Sarah watches, the Mogadorian disintegrates from beneath girl as she stabs him with a glowing blue dagger.

The other ignores Sarah completely now, turning his attention to the newest threat. Sarah hears crashing and gunfire, she's guessing it's coming from wherever that colossal beast dragged that alien. She doesn't know whether it's good or bad, but she hopes to hell it's coming to protect her.

The Mogadorian is out of its league, and within a minute, it too is a pile of ash on the ground. Six walks into the room. She dressed in jeans and her jacket, with cut off leather gloves on.

"That's the second time you've saved my life," Sarah stutters, still in shock at the events that just went down.

"Fights not over yet," Six replies simply. She motions for Sarah to follow her, and the two girls head down the hall cautiously. Six didn't time to make a proper head count on just how many Mogadorians were here. As soon as she had pulled up on her motorbike, Bernie must have realized something was wrong. The Chimera had started sprinting towards the school while transforming, and Six could barely keep up with him. It was just as well too.

"That thing… that broke through the wall. Is that yours?"

Six shakes her head. "It's John's dog."

"Wait, his beagle?"

"Yeah, Bernie Kosar is not all as he seems," the Lorien smiles. She holds up a hand, halting Sarah in her path as she peers around the corner. There are two Mogadorians standing there, heavy weapons in their arms. "Well, crap..." Six moves back behind the wall, gripping her dagger tight in her hand and taking a few breaths. She was a badass, she could take these two. But with Sarah here, pretty much defenseless, Six couldn't afford to leave the girl alone. There could be any number of Mog's in these school halls. "Okay, I'm going to take care of these Mogadorians," Six told the girl beside her. "I need you to stay as close to me as possible. I'm going to fight our way out to the car park, are you ready for this?"

"You want me to follow you?"

Six nods her head. "I won't let anything happen to you, Sarah. But I can't leave you alone. The Mogadorians are going to do everything they can to attack you. If you stick close to me, at least I know where you are. You have to trust me…"

Sarah swallows down the feeling of being completely overwhelmed, running a hand through her long hair as she tried to process what exactly was going on, when a thought occurred to her. "How did they even find me?"

"They tracked you here, they found out your location from John."

John would never let them know about her voluntarily… "Oh my god, is John alright? Is he safe?"

Six slams a hand over Sarah's mouth, shooting a look over her shoulder. "Keep it down, Hart. Mogadorians are stupid, they aren't deaf!" she hissed.

Sarah knocks Six's hand from her face, and spun the girl to face her by the arm, ignoring Six's jab. She didn't care that this girl could kill her in a thousand different ways. "Tell me!"

Six looks over Sarah's face, a mixture of worry and anger and genuine concern for the man she loves. That made two of them. "John's alright," she says finally. "For the moment, anyway. But you need to get to him as soon as you can. And we need to leave Ohio."

"We? You mean…"

"You're not safe here anymore, Sarah. The Mogadorians know about you, and if you want to protect your family, and your precious little town, you need to come with me now. Come with me and don't look back."

_Please don't be dreaming, please don't be dreaming, please don't be dreaming_, Sarah thinks in her head. How many times had she prayed for the chance to go to John. Now that it was actually happening…she would have to leave without saying goodbye to her mother, father or brother again, right after she promised to be home. Her parents would be crushed.

"We need to get out of this high school," Six snaps her fingers before Sarah's face, bringing her back to reality. "I'm going to run out there. Wait until I'm fighting them, and then sprint for the exit. Don't look back, don't stop for anything. This is going to be a fast."

Sarah closes her eyes for a small moment, conjuring up in her mind a picture of John's smiling face. For John… she could do this for him. "I'm ready."

"Alrighty. Let's do this." Six flips her dagger in the air, catching it by the handle, and sprinting out from behind the lockers. The Mogadorians spot her for a small moment before she disappears, appearing a second later right in their faces. Six swing her dagger across the face of the closest Mog, managing to turn around. "Now, Sarah!"

Sarah runs out from behind the locker just as the wall crashes out, the huge monstrosity that was formerly Bernie Kosar, tumbling over as it wrestled with a creature equally as big. Sarah ducked her head down, eyes forward, trying not to stop, or watch. There is a Mogadorian ahead of her, but suddenly it's encased in ice, it's arms frozen to its body, and Sarah runs passed it just as Six appears, stabbing her dagger through the Mogadorian's throat and landing to her feet. "Keep running, Sarah," she says once before disappearing again. Two Mogadorians come into view as Sarah rounds a corner, and she forces herself to run directly at them.

The Mogadorians are confused at first at the sight of this small human girl running at them like she'd on the offensive. It's not until blue smoke starts appearing in front of her path they realize something is amiss. But by then, it's too late. Six throws her entire body weight into the soldiers, knocking both to the ground and slamming her dagger through one without hesitation.

The second struggles to his feet, but the ground beneath him turns icy and he quickly falls back over into Six's waiting blade. She's is getting tired now, and she can feel her energy draining with each passing moment. But she can't let herself falter now, not with John relying on her. Not with Sarah running for her life. Six pushes herself to her feet and tears down the hall after Sarah, who was surprisingly fast on her feet.

The exit doors are in view now, three Mogs waiting for them. They had figured out by now what was going down, and had their weapons trained right on them as they rounded the last corner.

"Stop!" The one in the middle calls out. The Commander, Six gathers. Both girls skid to a stop on the linoleum floor, struggling to catch their breath.

"What now?" Sarah asks, hands leant against her knees as she puffed for air.

"Patience," Six replies. "Just waiting for Plan B."

The double doors are ripped from their hinges, and all three Mogadorians are pulled outside by Bernie, who quickly discards of them with a heavy chomp of his jaw.

"See, Plan B's a good boy," Six smiles as Sarah, running out to the car park. "Aren't you, Bernie?" The Chimera wags his giant tail, shattering the tarmac beneath it with every movement he makes. "We have to move, we can't waste any time." Six leads Sarah over to the motorbike she had swiped when her plane landed, handing the blonde a helmet. "The Mog's are going to come back, with more people this time."

Sarah takes the helmet, and hesitates. Could she really do this? She'd thought about if for over a year now, but if got on that bike with Six, there was no turning back. She wouldn't be able see her father, mother or brother again for she doesn't know how long. She won't be able to see Emily, or Mark, for that matter. Everything she had ever known will be gone.

"Sarah," Six looks the blonde girl in front of her here, and sees the fear and uncertainty in her eyes. "I know this is overwhelming for you, you just ran for your life from that building, but you can't stay here. You need to come with me, and we need to go now. I made a promise to bring you to John, and he's hurt right now. He's hurt and he needs you."

John was hurt, and he needed her. It was all she needed to hear. "Let's go."

""""""

It wasn't looking good.

Damien didn't have to say it allowed for Sam to realize that they were losing John. He was shaking every few seconds now, and because of the toxin in his body, it wasn't healing the damage caused by the Ryion. Sam moved to John's side, putting a hand on his arm. His skin, usually hot to the touch, was now clammy and cold. Dead. "I don't really know what I should say, or even if I should say anything… they always do this in movies," he begins, swallowing as he looked down at his friend in the bed. "But you can't die, alright John? My life was hell before you came to Paradise. I was a loser, I was bullied, my stepfather treated me like dirt and I didn't have anywhere to go. Now… now I'm in a hotel room in Greece, fighting for this world," Sam pauses. "Plus, Six kissed me. Clearly the more important of the two." He laughs, because he didn't want to cry while John was still alive, despite how hopeless the whole situation seemed. John hadn't given up fighting, why the hell should Sam? "I don't know if you can hear me, but Six has gone to get Sarah… and she won't come back without her, you know she won't. So just hang in there, buddy, alright." Sam feels one tear fall from his eye, and he quickly wipes it away.

Sam feels a hand on his shoulder, and he gives a jump of fright, turning to see Kayla. "You shouldn't be up," Sam gets to his feet, using the heel of his hands to wipe away the telltale signs that he'd been crying. "Damien will have a fit when he knew you've moved."

"I couldn't stay in that room any longer. Besides, Damien's not here." She looks down to John's still form, and quickly turns away. "He's going to be alright, you know."

"How do I know?" Sam asks back quickly. "All I see if my best friend laying there looking like the undead… which, considering how my life has been going, could very well turn out to be true. It's just… he's my best friend, you know. I've never had a best friend before, and I don't want to lose him."

"You won't," she takes a seat at John's side, looking down at his still figure. Frankly, she didn't know whether John would make it or not, but she wasn't going to tell Sam that. She looks around the room, and asks "Where's Ben?"

"He said something about going out and getting fresh air. I don't think he likes seeing John like this, and I can't really blame him. I can't shake this feeling that I could have done something to save him, you know? Like I should have been there for him like he had always been there for me."

"Huh, you and I seem to have that in common." Kayla reaches forward and brushed Four's hair from his forehead. "You saved our lives, Sam. When you shot the Ryion in the face, you saved me and Ben's lives. So don't think that you could have done more, alright? He's going to make it.." The door to the apartment opens.

"""""

_I'm standing on a hill, watching as my world crumbles. The sunset shattered by the jet-black ships that litter the sky, the homes around me burnt to the ground, drowning out the screams and cries for help. I turn, but Henri doesn't come for me this time, and I am left standing alone of the hilltop as my hope is crushed. The Mogadorians have won, I do not have any fight in my anymore. My chest in burning in pain and I feel the warmth of tears as they stream from my eyes onto my skin. I fall onto my knees. I cannot fight anymore, not alone. _

_And then there is a hand on my cheek._

_This wasn't part of my nightmare, there had never been help in my nightmare. Confused I look up, and I see blonde hair flying in the wind, and almond shaped green eyes locked to mine. She is smiling and she holds out her hand to me silently. As I take it the sounds of war around me start to fade away. The black ships in the sky disappear from view, and the sunset returns to its brilliant grandeur, the air clearing free of the smell of smoke and oil. She looks me over with her stunning eyes that I've loved so much from the moment I saw them. _

"_You came for me?" I ask her._

_Her reply is simple, her eyes smiling. "I'll always come for you." My head falls, and fresh tears fall down my face. "Now you have to come back to me now. You promised you would come back to me." She holds out her hand. "I know you're tired, you're tired of fighting, so let me save you now, John." She takes my hand in hers and I let her pull me to my feet. I'm exhausted, but I look down at our hands linked together, and take a breath._

I open my eyes as she is there, looking down at my face. "You're really here?" I manage to get out in one tired breath, and she nods, her hand to my cheek, her tears falling onto my face.

"I'm here."

I look passed her and see Six standing in the corner between Sam and Ben, her eyes fixed on mine. "Thank you…" I say to her, swallowing down. "Six.."

"You know I would never have let anything happen to her," Six replies, and Sarah looks over her shoulder to the girl. "You two need to take care of each other now." The three file out of the room, leaving Sarah and I alone.

She holds my face in her hands. "John, I'm here now. And I'm not going to leave you ever." She leans her forehead against mine, squeezing her eyes shut. Her touch is like energy to me. I could do this. I could fight this toxin. For her I could do anything..

_**AN: Okay, so Sarah's part of the team now, expect her in epic battles and all! LOL. At first I found it hard to picture Dianna Argon kicking ass but now I can totally see her with a knife and a gun **__**:) **_

_**Please review, I love every bit of the feedback I get. **_

_**Just another little message to say that there isn't a definate date on the next update. Now that Sarah's finally part of the team, I'm getting geared up to start a whole other plot line I have going in my head, might take a while to get it right, but hang in there! Thanks for reading.**_


	19. Chapter 19

_**AN: Hey, a HUGE thank you to all of those who read and reviewed my story, I honestly read everyone of them, and I love everyone's ideas of what should happen too!**_

I don't have the nightmare anymore.

It didn't occur to me until about a week after Sarah arrived, but with her asleep at my side, the nightmare of Loriens destruction, the Seer plaguing my mind, Henri collapsing in my arms, it all disappeared. Every night, as I head to my room, and see her sitting on the bed in my oversized T-shirt (we had yet to buy her any clothes), I am overcome with the most overwhelming sense of happiness that all I can do is stand there and grin like an idiot at her.

The wounds the Ryion had left me with were far from being healed, and Damien had to change my bandages regularly, but at least the poison had left my system, taking with it the hallucinations and madness I suffered from. It would still be a while before I would be back to normal, and Damien had told me that the cuts on my chest would scar over. I didn't mind all that much, and Sarah told me she found scars sexy.

Kayla was up and moving about now, much to Six's joy. With me out of action, Kayla had taken over my place as Six's training partner, the two often disappearing on long runs around the township.

We had been in Greece now for almost 2 weeks, and I could tell Damien was getting restless at staying in one place for so long, despite the fact that all of us were certain the Mogadorians weren't going to try and hunt us down, especially after what we had done to them. With four Lorien's together, it was a suicide mission for anything less than a Mog army to come after us. And they still had to remain hidden from humans, something far more difficult for them to do then us.

Sarah is adjusting to being here with us, but I know, or I can _feel_, that she misses her parents and her brother, and her friends. She didn't get to say goodbye at all. She just got on Six's bike and came here, and although it meant the world to me that she would be willing to do something like that, it still sucked that I caused her pain in this way. Her parents would be worried sick, and the police would probably be involved by now. Hopefully they'll just think Sarah's pulled a runaway teen thing. She was nearing 18 in a few months now, and she'd be legally allowed to do whatever she wanted. But she had a close relationship with her family, and they deserved more then this.

"Why don't you write your parents a letter?" Sam suggested one rainy afternoon while we all sat around the lounge. Sarah was on the couch, and I sat on the floor in front of her, my head resting against her knees as her fingers play around with my hair. "I mean, it's what I would do if I had parents that cared," Sam gave a shrug, and I hear Six and Kayla laughing in the corner where they are playing cards, Nine's favorite past time.

"I guess…" Sarah's fingers run down the back of my neck, and I shut my eyes, reveling in how good it feels. "It's just… a letter is so.." she finishes her sentence with a wave of her hand.

"Twitter them," Ben puts in. He's sitting cross-legged in front of the TV, playing Halo. Kind of ironic, but whatever.

"Or Facebook," Sam jokes. He puts on a serious expression, adding "Everyone's doing it."

I tilt my head back, and Sarah's upside down face comes into my vision. "I can get you a secure phone line, and you can call them if you want. But you'll just have to explain that they won't be able to contact you."

Kayla looks over with a smile, "Because you know, you're on the run from Mogadorians or whatever." She and Sarah got on pretty well, a lot better than Six and Sarah had after their first meeting. But Six had always been a bit standoffish. Nine seemed a lot more tolerable with Sarah being around, and I liked her for that. I can't even imagine what it would like for my girlfriend, having to leave everything she'd ever known behind to go on the run with a bunch of aliens and, well, Sam.

"DIE!" I hear Ben yelling at the TV, and I have to laugh. I missed times like these, they were few and far between. Days where it felt like we were all just a group of friends, hanging out, doing whatever we wanted, no pressure, no war.

I reach up and take Sarah's hand in mine, running my thumb over hers. "Sarah, I'm…"

"Don't say you're sorry," she cuts me off. "I've heard it so many times over the past few days it doesn't even sound like a word anymore. You have _nothing_ to be sorry about, John, alright?"

"But.."

"No, don't want to hear it. There is no place I'd rather be then right here with you."

"Ugh, can you do you're lovey-dovey coupley stuff in privacy, it's sickening to those of us less fortunate," Ben mumbles light-heartedly. Sam looks over and sees Six looking his way. She quickly drops her eyes back to the cards before her.

"I'm hungry," Sarah and I look over to Ben, who drops the controller and gets up, stretching out his back. "I'm going to run out and grab some food."

"Uh uh," Six gets to her feet, shaking her head. "You always get the same thing. I swear if I have to eat another _gyro_ I'm going to hurl all over the apartment! I'll get it."

"I'll come too." Sam jumps to his feet and heads out of the door before Six can object. She throws on her jacket and leaves the apartment, Bernie squeezing through the door and out into the hall before it swings shut. My Chimera seems to have taken it upon himself to personally escort anybody leaving the apartment, and even though no one will admit it, I know they like Bernie being around. There was no denying his skills as a bodyguard, that was for sure.

"Hey, do you guys want to play cards?" It was quickly becoming Kayla's personal catchphrase.

Sarah laughs, getting up and taking Six's place at the table. "I don't know why you insist on playing us, you beat everyone no matter what we play."

"That's not true. John won that Poker game last night."

"You fell asleep," I remind her.

"And I stole like, half of your chips," Ben says.

"Whatevs. I still lost." Kayla deals out her cards so fast they're a blur. I sit there on the floor, looking over at the two girls by the window. Sarah laughs, and I watch her tuck her hair behind her ear with a delicate finger. I am so happy she was here, but it was a double-edged sword, and it always would be. Being with me was both the safest and the most dangerous place for her. I still hadn't asked Six to train her yet. Everyone else offered to show Sarah tips, and Damien had already begun with showing her a few basic moves to use, but ultimately I wanted Sarah trained by Six. Granted, Six was a tough trainer, and she could be a downright bitch at times, but if anyone could teach Sarah how to fight a Mogadorian, it would be her. Even when she _wasn't_ using her legacies, Six moved and fought so brutally that no Mog stood a chance against her. And although she seemed to have a little animosity towards Sarah for whatever reason, I knew she would do this for me, just like she had came through for me countless times in the past.

"John." I look over to Damien, who motions me into his room. "I have to check your wound."

I get to my feet and walk into the room, unbuttoning my shirt and laying it to the side. I take a seat on the lazy-boy recliner Damien had converted into his doctor's station. He switches on the overhead lamp and starts unwrapping my bandages, one by one. "What do you think about Sarah being here?" I ask him, curious.

"I think it's dangerous, but it's by far the best decision you've made. You're a lot happier.. in fact, I think she's kind of boosted everybody's morale around here. She's a sweet girl." The last bandage comes off, revealing the 4 huge slice marks down my chest, heavy stitches keeping the skin together. Most of the angry redness of the infection is gone, and already one of the cuts is scarring up, the skin raised higher then the rest. "I can tell you one thing, she's a damn miracle worker when it came to you. I honestly thought we were going to lose you for a second there."

I nod, exhaling and letting my head drop back. "Yeah… me too."

He checks the stitches, removing a few with a pair of tweezes. "You are very lucky, John, to have found her."

"So everyone keeps telling me," I say. "Believe me, I know I'm lucky."

Damien starts to dress me with fresh bandages. "Sarah will be fine. You're so fixed on keeping her safe, not allowing her to get into a position where she might get hurt, but she's stronger than you think. I knew it from the moment I saw her. There's a fire in her eyes."

"Yeah… I know." I look up at the ceiling. "What are we going to do next, Damien, after we leave Greece?"

The Cepan shrugs, his eyes fixed to my injuries. "To be honest, I have no idea _what_ we should do. Our job as protectors is just to keep you safe until you're strong enough to take care of yourselves, and I've done that duty. If it were up to me, going after the Mogadorians, exacting revenge is always going to be my first choice… but after seeing what happened to you and Kayla, I have my doubts."

"Wait, you're not responsible for this!"

"It was my idea to attack the Mogadorians in the first place.."

"And it was a good idea. We won, Damien. And we know now that there's a Seer," I say, quietly adding, "one that I'm going to hunt down and kill. So are we going to go after the Seer, or search out Number Eight?"

"It's not my choice. Any decision now is up to you guys. You're a team now, You, Six, Ben and Kayla, even Sarah and Sam too. What you want to do is in your hands, not mine." He finishes up, tossing some excess bandage to the side, and claps his hands together. "You're good to go, John. Just don't do anything strenuous, don't exert yourself…" he raises his eyebrow at me while pointing out of the door to Sarah. "Do you hear me, Four? Nothing demanding on your body."

"I got it, I got it," I shrug back into my shirt, doing the buttons up one by one as I head back out into the living room. Basically, sex was out of the question until I was healed, not that Sarah and I would be doing it anyway. It was weird, we were both virgins, and Ben and Sam's room was right beside ours. The shame and teasing I would get if either one of them _heard_ what we were doing would be insurmountable. Still, it didn't stop me from imagining what it would be like. I may be a Lorien, an alien from outer space, but I was still an 18-year-old guy whose girlfriend was unbelievably gorgeous, who drove me insane with her touch and who was currently sharing my bed.

"John!"

"Huh?" I turn to see Sarah looking at me, eyebrows raised, while Kayla and Ben shared a confused look to one another. "What?"

"I asked if everything was alright… like a hundred times and you were just standing there."

"Oh, yeah, no, everything's fine," I run a hand through my hair, coming back to reality. "I think I might go for a sleep," I head to my room quickly and shut the door behind me. As I collapse onto my back on the bed, I can't help but laugh at myself. Daydreaming about Sarah was kind of becoming a serious problem for me.

A few minutes pass, and then the bedroom door opens and shuts. Sarah falls beside me, laying on her side facing me, her head held up with a hand bent at the elbow. "Are you sure you're alright?" she asks me, cupping my cheek in her other hand.

"I'm fine," I take her hand in mine, kissing her palm and holding it over my chest. "You know, I can get you that phone Sarah…"

She shakes her head. "Maybe Sam's right, I should write a letter. Talking to them, hearing my mom's voice upset," she looks down. "I'm strong but not that strong.." she immediately puts a finger to my lips. "Don't say you're sorry." I nod my head at her. "It's not like I'm not going to see them again. One day, when this whole thing is over, you and I are going to waltz back into Paradise hand in hand and tell them everything. I can wait until then."

I study her face, the curve of her cheekbone, her flawless smooth skin, and her eyes looking at mine. I love them the most. "You're amazing."

"You've got to stop complimenting me," she smiles. "You're going to give me a complex." Sarah reaches over and starts unbuttoning my shirt, pushing it back so she can look at my chest. She checked my injuries at least once every day.

"It hurts you to look at these…" I say, feeling her emotion clearly. She nods her head once, biting her lip as she touches one of the cuts softly. "So why do you look?"

"So I know you're getting better," she says back immediately. "So I know you're not going to leave me."

"Please," I shift a little closer to her with a grin. "It's gonna to take more then a 10 – tonne nasty as Ryion with poison claws to get rid of me. I'm afraid you're stuck with me forever."

"Darn it," she snaps her fingers. "And I was hoping you would die so I could run off with my _other_ boyfriend who promised to love me forever."

"That John Smith huh?" I joke back to our phone conversation back in London. It feels like an eternity ago, so much has happened since then.

"Mmmm. But he hasn't got your quick wit and the kissing isn't nearly as good," she leans in, waiting for me to close the gap. I'm happy to oblige, our lips joining together in an almost lazy fashion, my tongue immediately pressing to hers as I run a hand through her hair.

"You taste like raspberries," I say when we break apart.

"Really? Do you like raspberries?"

"Hold on, let me just check again," I kiss her, our lips both curved into a smile.

"Cause, I can change lip gloss," her lips press to mine again, "you know, if raspberry isn't your flavor…"

"It's my flavor." I close the gap, pulling her close with our mouths locked together. We don't talk much after that.

"""""

"What about pizza?" Sam points to the small restaurant with a hopeful grin, but Six shakes her head no. "Um…" he searches for any other food places, but can't really read the writing at all, so he just gives up, shoving his hands deep into the pockets of his jacket and walking beneath the shelter to avoid getting wet. The rain had gone from torrential to drizzle now, but it was enough to soak him to the skin if he didn't watch himself.

He pauses outside a video shop, looking inside. The Paradise video store used to be one of his favorite haunts when he lived there. He'd watched his way through the entire comedy section shelf, and was starting on Sci-Fi when John had moved. Ironic.

Sam turns to see Six, who's standing outside with a Greek menu in her hands, scanning through it. "You can read that?" he asks, walking up to her.

"Yes. Katerina made me study most languages, we moved around a lot," she puts the menu back boringly. "_Gyro's_ it is. Five is going to be so happy," she gives Sam a small smile, before walking down the road. It's about the most she's talked to him since getting back from Ohio. If it wasn't for the fact Ben saw them, Sam could honestly have thought he'd imagined the whole kissing thing, he wouldn't put it passed himself. But no, the kiss had happened. The hurdle for him now was trying to talk to Six about he. He liked the girl, hell, he might even love her, but she did kind of freak him out. She was unpredictable, he didn't know if she was going to snap at him or, well, kiss him.

"Uh…"

"You know Sam, when you start a sentence with 'Uh', I usually tune out to whatever you're going to say next."

"Oh right. Okay then, let me start over." He reaches out and takes Six's hand, swinging her to face him. "You kissed me."

"I did."

_Right, okay, so she admitted it. Now what?_ Sam thinks. "So, what does that mean?"

She slips her hand from his, continuing her walk back to the hotel. "It means that I was scared and tired and I didn't want anything to happen to anybody else." She sighs. "I didn't want anybody else I care about to get hurt, Sam, that's why I didn't want you to go."

"You care about me?"

"Of course I do. I might not go around wearing friendship bracelets but it doesn't mean I don't care."

"And you kissed me."

"So you keep telling me,"

"What does it mean, the kiss?"

"You know, I always thought it was supposed to be the girl that's all needy. You've sure proven that theory wrong," Six heads into the fast food joint, making the order and leaving Sam out on the pavement to collect his thoughts. She comes back out a minute later, wrapping her arms around herself to ward off the cold. "I can't be one of those girls, Sam."

"What girls?"

"Well," she gave a shrug, "Sarah. You know, all those i-love-you's and hand holding and hair twirling.."

"But I like the hair twirling," Sam pouts.

"It's not me," she swallows away the feeling of butterflies in her stomach that had been plaguing her ever since leaving for Ohio. "But I do like you, okay?"

"What about Ben?"

Six looks away for a moment, thinking back to Five. She didn't know what it was that happened the night of the battle, but with them both standing there in front of her like that, Sam had been the one she had wanted to be with, to kiss. Whether it was just his concern over her protection, or just the fact that he was being too sweet, something in her kind of changed. And although she wasn't certain over her feelings at all, especially when it came to Ben, she was willing to give this thing with Sam, whatever it was, a chance.

The war against the Mogadorians had started, they had taken the first offensive step, and it was going to be a long battle. She didn't want to put off experiencing things like love... if that's what it turned out to be.

"I don't want to be with Ben," she takes a breath. "I want.. to be with you." Okay, so that wasn't as hard to say as she had first thought it would be, and seeing Sam's grin from ear to ear was kind of worth it. "You know, we make no sense as a couple, right?"

"Sure we do. Hot girls and nerds have a history of falling for each other." Sam holds out his hand, and Six hesitates only briefly before linking their fingers together.

"There is just one thing though.."

"Yeah?" Sam raises an eyebrow.

"I want to keep us a secret."

"What? Why?" he says in a whiny voice.

"Sam…" she fixes him a look, and he sighs.

"Fine. Can I kiss you?" She shakes her head. "Why not?"

"I might like you, but it doesn't mean you get to maul me whenever you want."

"Did I say maul?"

"Kiss, maul, pretty much the same thing."

"Uh uh," he steps up closer to Six, and uses his pointing finger to tilt her face upwards. When she doesn't move away, he drops his head so slowly to hers, until their lips are pressed together softly. He exhaled, keeping it brief even though he could probably do this forever. "That's a kiss. I'll show you a maul later."

"You wish…" she says quietly, a smile playing on her lips.

A young guy comes out with two plastic bags full of food, which Sam takes quickly. "Come on. I'm starving."

"""""

The two get back to the apartment, and as Six enters, she stops dead in her tracks, Sam banging into her. "What the_ hell_ are you two doing?" she demands, her eyes wide.

Ben and Kayla are sitting on the floor, cross-legged facing one another. There are little bottles of liquor scattered all over the floor, and they had a card each stuck to their foreheads. From the glazed look over both their eyes, Six could tell they were both a little drunk. "Do you wanna play cards?" Kayla asks, before doubling over with laughter. Ben joined in, like something hysterical was happening that Six and Sam didn't know.

Five lifts his head, clutching his stomach when he spots the bags in Sam's arms. "Yum!" he holds out a hand, and the bags fly from Sam's grasp straight towards him, smashing straight into Ben, which made Kayla laugh even more.

"You guys should play, it's really fun." She holds out a card. "You stick it to your forehead and then you have to guess what it is. Everyone wrong guess you have to do a shot, but we didn't have a shot glass so we just drink one of these little bottles here.." Kayla tosses Six a small bottle of vodka. "They're from the comident… conmident," she frowns.

"Condiment?" Sam finishes.

"Yup, that's it! The Comident bar!"

Damien walks out of his room to the small fridge, opening it and examining the contents, seemingly oblivious to Nine and Five on the floor. He lifts a packet of chips from the bar, looking over at Six and Sam's confused expressions. "What?"

"Uh, are you seeing what I am?" Six points to the two on the floor, who are now laughing so hard they're rolling on the ground.

"Yes. They're drunk. I think it's good."

"Thanks," Ben says, his mouth full of food.

"You do?" Sam asks. "But, you're like, our guardian. Aren't you supposed to _not_ let us do this?"

"Look, we've spent the last weeks battling for our lives, on the run. I encourage this. It lets you guys blow off steam, we all need it, one way or another."

"Wait, hold up. You're giving us permission to get completely wasted?" Sam demands.

"Sure. As long as you guys don't leave the apartment, I'm alright with it. Go crazy." Damien walks into his room, shutting the door behind him.

"You wanna play cards?" Sam grins over at Six, not hiding his excitement.

"Are you sure you're not just trying to get me drunk?" Six shrugs out of her jacket.

"Please…" Sam walks over, sitting down beside Kayla. "I don't need to get you drunk anymore." He takes a card from the pack, handing it over to her.

Six takes the card, licking the back and sticking it to her forehead. "First one to pass out loses."

"""""

I can hear the commotion going on out in the lounge, it continues way into the early hours of the morning, but I don't mind. Sarah's sleeping soundly at my side, and I can feel the warm puffs of air hit my arm as she breathes in and out. I can't sleep tonight, my mind still focused on Damien's words.

We had to decide what to do next. In this hotel room, surrounded by friends and beautiful views, it was so easy just to forget about what we had to do. Some mornings when I woke up with the sun in the sky, Sarah under my arm and the muffled sounds of the others out of my room, I let myself pretend that the war was over, and the Mogadorians had been wiped out.

For those few short minutes, I felt content.

And then of course, reality would kick right back in when my injuries would sting or Six would remind me to keep my training up.

There was still so much we had to do before we could really start living. If I could choose, going after that Mogadorians Seer would be my main priority. Now that I had experienced what it felt like for the Seer to go into my mind, and steal anything it wanted from me, I was determined not to let it to that to anybody else ever again. For days afterward, I still felt like a presence was in my mind, and I couldn't shake the feeling away. Finding the Seer would mean going from settlement to settlement and destroying any enemies that got in our way.

Then of course, there was Number Eight, and Number Ten to find. Number Eight was in Russia, that about as much as we knew about them. Number Ten was a complete mystery, and I guess they would remain so since Damien refused to talk about them for whatever reason. They were still in danger, and I would beat the Mogadorians would only intensify their search for them now that they realized the Loriens had started their attack.

And then there was Sam's father. My friend hadn't really talked about his father much, but I knew he wanted to find him. It was just another thing Sam was sacrificing for us. I wanted to find Malcolm Goode, and not just for my best friends sake either. Sam's father would be able to answer a lot of questions, particularly about the destruction of Lorien and Number Ten. There were so many decision that needed to be made, so many probabilities to consider.

"Mmmmm," Sarah moans, rolling over, her eyes blinking open. "What's the matter?" she asks me in a heavy tired voice, shifting closer to me.

"Can't sleep," I reply. "Just thinking.."

"About what?" her eyes shut and I know she's on the verge of falling asleep again. I glance over to the bedside clock, it was nearing four am now. The sounds of the others out in the lounge had died away about an hour ago I think.

I look back at Sarah's slight frame, watching as her chest rises and falls in a steady rhythm. Reaching over, I brush a lock of fallen hair from her face, swallowing. "I'm thinking about how I want to marry you," I say quietly, before laying back and shutting my eyes, sleep finally overcoming me.

_**AN: So this chapter is sort of just a filler, but I figured the last few have been pretty actioned pack, they deserve a bit of a break.**_

_**Please review, like I said before, you guys are the reason the story is getting so long! **_


	20. Chapter 20

_**AN: Man, you guys are AWESOME! A huge thanks to everybody who took the time to review, loved every single one of them. **_

_**And sorry for the longish break between updates, writer's block's SUCKS! But I've gotten stuck into the story finally again, so hope you enjoy it :)**_

Damien was worried.

Not that he'd ever let the others know, hell, he could be a freakin' Academy Award winning actor with how well he could lie and act like everything was fine and dandy. Granted, he was pretty sure John could tell something wasn't right, that boy had way too much intuition. All the Loriens, Four, Five, Six and Nine each had strengths and weaknesses spread between them. It was why joining together like they were doing was the best thing for them. Where one person was weak in a certain area, another was strong.

Ben was far easier to handle then John was, Damien's charge just wandered around pretty oblivious to most things going on. In battle, Ben was more of a 'point him in the right direction and stand back' kind of fighter, not much in the way of planning or tactics. But every army needed a grunt, and Ben excelled at that.

Number Four, John, he had his head screwed on right. That boy never did anything without thinking it through, going over every possibility and outcome. Only when it came to Sarah did he ever seem to lose his cool. He was an invaluable member to have out in the battle as well. Damien took time to watch him fight. John always had an awareness of his surroundings, as evident by the way he would fire his Lumen onto the others during battle every so often, foregoing his own energy to give them a boost. He was a decent type of guy, Damien found, he'd never hesitate to give if someone asked. And now with Sarah here with him, John was starting to show some different sides to his personality, becoming calmer and joking around a lot more with Sam and Ben. Damien hadn't really gotten to know Sarah Hart too well yet. He'd shown her some basic self-defense moves the other day, and she picked them up ten times faster then Ben had. Between him and the others training, they could make a fighter out of her yet.

Kayla was a decent combatant in battle too. It was because of her John was still alive, after she had leapt in front of the Ryions path and used her illusion legacy. He wouldn't admit it to anybody, but he did get stabs of jealousy that he was born without the gift of legacies the others had. How amazing would it be to be able to project images into peoples heads, make them see and experience something without even moving? Kayla's other legacy, the Elemental Manipulation, was more advanced then Sixs. She used it in battle a lot more often as an offensive weapon. Damien made it a point to get her training with a dagger and gun a little more, once they had relocated to a place suitable to train in.

Sam was proving himself more and more with each passing day. He often downplayed just how skilled he was with a gun. Damien saw the shot he made, hitting the Ryion pointblank in the face, missing Ben by mere inches a football field length away in the dark. Even on Lorien, that shot was impressive. More important then that, Sam provided much needed comic relief. Being on this mission took a toll on everyone; it was why he let them drink last night. Everybody needed a rest, and Sam was an expert at elevating a situation.

And then there was Six… Damien could only shake his head. God, that girl could fight! Her invisibility legacy aside, she was by far the most impressive worrier Damien had encountered, a call-back to the amazing skills of fighters back on Lorien. Katerina had trained her well, that was evident, but it was more Six's steely determination to be better then the others that put her above the rest. The Mogadorian's knew it too, she was clearly building a reputation up in the Mogadorian ranks as one they needed to take down. He saw how focused they were on killing Six in the church, and at the old power station too. Her personality was evidence of her skills, she was cold, calculating, rarely smiled and laughed with the others. Sometimes sacrifices needed to be made for the greater good, and Six clearly knew that. If Damien ever had to choose a Lorien to fight single-handedly against the Mogadorians, Six would be it.

As a Cepan, a trainer, it was Damien's job to teach them how to work together, to utilize their abilities to become a well-oiled fighting machine. It was a huge task, that was for sure. Back on Lorien, there were dozens of trainers who worked with a team. Having another Cepan around would be a huge help, but beggars can't be choosers.

It worried him, how the other protectors had been killed. Damien realized just how lucky he had been avoiding death like he had. Henri, Katerina and Allison had all been his friends back on Lorien, but he couldn't allow their deaths to bring him down and affect him. There was no place or time for grieving in his life. With Number Seven dead, there was little chance Jason, his Cepan, had lived either. Which left Number Eight and their protector.

And, he had to admit to it eventually, Number Ten. The thorn in every Lorien's side. How could he even begin to tell the others that Number Ten was part of the reason why they were on Earth? Damien harbored a hatred for this particular Lorien despite them not being at fault completely for why things turned out the way they did. And he wondered time and again why Malcolm Goode did what he had done that day. Everything happened for a reason, that was a belief heavily inbuilt in every Lorien, but Damien was finding it hard to justify how the hell Malcolm Goode could…

"Hey Damien!"

Breaking the dark trail his thoughts were leading him, Damien turned to his bedroom door, seeing John's grinning face looking right back.

"What is it?"

"You know, I would try and explain, but I think it'll be better if you just came and see for yourself."

"""""

Kayla had been drunk, or at least tipsy, before, a few times actually, mostly at after school parties, but she never gotten trashed. Allison had never been really strict on that.

Six had had casual drinks in the past, never enough to affect her.

Ben had a few beers at a few pubs, and Sam had never gotten drunk before in his life. Every one of them had lost consciousness the night before.

Six was the first to wake up, simply because there was a gap in the curtains in the lounge, and sunlight was streaming through right onto her. If it weren't for that, she was pretty sure she have slept straight through the entire day. She lifts a hand and shields her face, squinting as they room came slowly into focus. Somehow, the three heavy leather couches had shifted from their normal places, seemingly moved to random new spots. There were clothes strewn everywhere, and she gives a sigh of relief when she finds her jeans still on. She sees her shirt across the room, and holds out a hand. The piece of clothing sails to her, and she shrugs into it quickly.

Her head is throbbing, a beat pulsating against her temples. God, if this was what a hangover felt like, she swore she would never drink again! A moan came from her right, and she looked over to see Sam sprawled along the couch, struggling to move to sitting position. All his clothes are missing aside from his boxer shorts, black ones with the Batman Logo over the front. His hair looks like a birds nest, hair sticking up on end in every direction. He looks over at her, and Six starts to laugh.

"What?" he asks her in a tired voice.

"You'll find out soon enough," Six stretches out. "I can't remember anything about last night, can you?"

"I remember laughing," Sam offers. His hand went to his chest, and he quickly realized he was missing clothing. "I do not remember stripping, however."

Six looks around the room, her eyes coming to a stop on the two figures laying in the centre of the room. John's bedroom door opens and Sarah walks out, almost tripping over the unconscious pair laying on the floor. She looks up at Six with a small smile.

"Rough night?"

"Couldn't tell you if I wanted to," Six says back, getting her feet shakily. She walks towards a pile of clothes on the floor, laying right next to a long-forgotten card game. Surveying the cards before her, she huffs, "I think I know why we are missing clothes," she picks up Sam's jeans and head to him, handing them over. "Strip poker. You suck at that game."

Sam spins around so he's sitting, and steps into his jeans a little self-consciously, pulling them on in record time and buttoning them. He looks down at Ben and Kayla, who are still out of it, side by side. "It doesn't explain why Kayla's without her clothes. She'd waste us all at…" he lets his sentence trail off as he caught Six and Sarah's expressions. "What?"

Sarah is the one to break the silence, answering in an almost whisper, though she can't hide her amusement. "I think she's sans clothes for another reason, Sam."

Six moved over to the pair, and nudged Ben in the arm with her toe. After getting no reaction, she gave him a boot, and he quickly sat up, immediately regretting it.

"Owe!" he holds his aching head, keeping his eyes squeezed shut as he waits for the pain to fade. Blinking slowly, the first thing he sees is Six's face looking down at him, hands on hips and eyebrow raised. "What?" he demands. Her eyes move to the side, and he follows them to see… "Holy hell!" Ben quickly goes to shift away, stopping when he realized he was only in his briefs and the rest of his clothes are missing. And, with another quick look, he sees that Kayla is missing certain items of clothing too.

Please, oh please, tell him he'd been too drunk to remember his first time!

"""""

I head to the living room with Damien, not bothering to hide my enormous grin. By now, Six, Sam and Ben were all awake, albeit all a bit disheveled. I spot Sarah, and quickly head over to her. "Aren't you glad you ran away with us?" I ask her, pulling her into a hug and leaning my chin on top of her head. "Who would want to miss out on all this intrigue?"

"Ha ha, laugh it up, Johnny Boy," Ben says from his spot as he struggles back into his jeans. Sarah moves from my arms, kneeling down next to Kayla and attempting to wake her up.

I'm not going to let an opportunity to pay out on Ben or Sam go by, however, and I bend down an pick up an empty Grey Goose bottle. "What exactly did you guys do last night? Obviously alcohol was involved…"

"And cards," Sam says. "And I think maybe a camera?"

I laugh, putting the bottle on the bench. "I can't say I'm upset that I missed out."

"Where the hell are my clothes?" The must be Kayla coming to.

"Yeah, Ben, where are her clothes?" Six asks with a wicked grin.

Ben goes red in the face, and he quickly gathers up Kayla's discarded clothing and hands them to her, avoiding eye contact.

"You guys get all that out of your system now?" Damien asks, amused.

"I'm never going to drink ever again," Kayla pulls on her shirt, trying not to think about why she was lost it in the first place. Her memory of last night was foggy at best.

"I was thinking last night, and this morning too, I think it's about time we relocate. We've had two weeks of rest and recovery and, well, drunkenness. We need to get back into training." Damien hands Ben his shirt, which he pulls over his head with a sheepish grin.

"Can't wait," Six says honestly.

"We won the battle, not the war," Kayla mumbles, getting to her feet. "We know that, Damien. Where do you have in mind?"

"I was looking online at properties further inland, I found a pretty good rental house in a small town about a 5 hour drive from here. It's only three bedrooms, but I'm sure we can work something out. More importantly, it has a good stretch of land and trees surrounding it, it'll be the perfect training ground for you," he nods his head once to Sarah. "For all of you."

"Sounds cozy," Sam claps his hands together, rubbing them. "As much as l enjoy living in a $980 a night hotel room, I'm kinda getting a bit cabin feverish. When do we move?"

"Ditto," Six adds, "I need to stretch my legs."

"We can move this afternoon. Once you four are sobered up and showered, pack your things." He goes to move away, pausing just long enough to tell Sam he had a moustache drawn on his face, along with the word SEXY scrawled over hid forehead in thick black marker pen.

Sarah and I move to our room, and I start shoving what little clothes I have left into my backpack while Sarah looks out of the window to the picturesque view outside. Being on the run didn't give one much time to appreciate the views, so I stop what I'm doing and walk to her, sliding my arms beneath her and linking them around her stomach. I lean my chin to her shoulder, feeling her hands move over mine. She leans back into me. "It's so beautiful here… it's easy to forget what we are actually doing…"

"I forget all the time," I say honestly. "Especially with you here. It's easy to imagine that I'm just in a hotel room with my closest friends and the love of my life, and that the Mogadorians are just some horrible nightmare."

"They will be soon," she exhales a breath, her eyes shutting. "You know, I kind of think we got cheated on the whole dating thing." I laugh, asking what she means. "Well, we never really _went_ on a date," she continues on, "Aside from the carnival, and that wasn't exactly the most successful date in history. Although Mark's not really in my good books, watching you break his arm wasn't that romantic."

"Yeah, I guess not."

"Then, of course, I was told you were a terrorist, and then we got attacked by those Mogadorians and then the next day you disappeared," she lists it quickly in an off-hand manner. "And now I'm here, and we're sharing a bed but we don't _do _anything, we fit together so well, it's like we skipped the whole dating thing and went straight to 'married for 10 years' status, you know?" She twists in my arms, the back of her hands resting on my chest. "I kind of want the whole dinner and movies thing with you. Since I got here, we haven't really been alone. There has always been someone else in the hotel room." She tilts her head to the side, biting her bottom lip. "Why can Kayla and Ben be together and not us?"

Realization hits me quickly. "I don't think Kayla and Ben actually slept together," I say to her with a shake of my head. "I mean, I was awake almost the whole night last night, and they were right outside our door, I'm sure I would have heard something."

"I just… I want to be with you John," she takes my hands in hers, going to the tips of her toes and kissing me, a kiss I feel right the way through me, making me lose any train of thought and just focus on how damn good it felt. I'm pretty sure at that moment if she told me to 'jump', I'd ask 'how high'.

"I want to be with you too," I mumble to her when we break apart. "But, and call me old-fashioned, I want our first time to be special, and a hotel room bed with Sam and Ben right next door doesn't exactly scream romance. You're so beautiful, and important to me, you deserve flowers and fireworks and chocolates."

"I don't want any of that," she interrupts, putting her hand to my cheek. She runs her palm downward, her thumb drawing a pattern over my chin. "You're all I need."

I kind of always knew I loved Sarah, that I had fallen in love with this ex-cheerleader turned photographer from Paradise, Ohio, but hearing her say that really hit it home for me. I loved this girl more then anything or anyone in the entire world, in the entire universe. It didn't make sense in my mind that she could feel the same about me as I did about her; she deserved far more then I could ever give her. She stands higher, and I drop my forehead to hers. Her eyes are on my lips, and mine are on hers.

"And if you asked me to marry you, my answer would be yes, John," she gives me a knowing smile. "Yes, I would marry you."

The feeling I get then, like I'm literally soaring through the air, is by far the greatest thing I'd ever felt. "I'll keep that in mind then," I tease gently, pulling her back into my embrace, lifting her up from the ground and into my arms without breaking our kiss. I carry her, bridal style, to the bed and lay her down, easing myself on top of her. "I promise you," I put my lips to her neck, and I can hear her take in a shaky breath, "that we'll get our time together."

"We better."

By the time the others are sobered, showered, and packed, it's late afternoon. Damien left around lunch and returned with a van covered in tourism stickers. None of us asked where he got it, and he didn't bother to tell, so we just piled our things in, hopped in and sat back. The ride would last a few hours, but the scenery was worth staying awake for. Ben didn't think so, he'd fallen asleep almost immediately.

I look out of the window, watching the buildings pass by, one-by-one. Paradise seemed like another lifetime. I found myself struggling to remember what life had been like living with Henri. I missed my Cepan. I guess I always would. I hoped the dull ache I got when he died in my arms would lessen over time, but it never did. Sure, with Sarah around, and with the others joking and laughing, the pain lessened, but I had to accept that it would always be there. At least until the Mogadorians were defeated, and Henri was avenged. I lean my forehead against the cool glass, sighing. It would probably still be there afterwards too.

Henri had been a lot of things to me. A father, a brother, a mentor, and trainer, but above all else, he had been my friend, my only friend for the longest time. Anyone who had experienced the pain of losing a loved one would tell you it's the worst pain imaginable. I look across to Six, who's eyes are focused to her lap where she studies a map of Greece, and then to Kayla, who's shuffling cards before her, looking out of the front windscreen. Both of them lost their Cepan's too, was their pain like mine?

And then there is Number Eight, and Number Ten, both still out there in the world. It seemed like the odds where against us. 6 Loriens against the entire Mogadorian army. I know that every battle so far we've fought as a team, we had won, but not without injuries. I put a hand to my chest, feeling the scar through the thin material of my button down shirt.

I wonder what legacies Number Eight has? Which brings me straight into my next thought, how we would go about tracking them down. When Six and I used the tracking stone, Number Eight had been in Russia, but who knows if he stuck around there. It's been over a year, Henri and I would have shifted half a dozen times by now. Was Number Eight searching for us now?

Sarah shifts beneath my arm, breaking my train of thought. "You alright?"

"Uh huh," I mumble, leaning my cheek on top of her head. "You ready to get stuck into training. When we stop I'm putting you straight to work with Six. She's brutal, ask Sam." I hear Sam agree, and Six laugh.

"I'm sure I can handle it. I _was_ a cheerleader," Sarah jokes, adding, "Say what you want about the sport, but we had to keep in shape for it."

To my surprise, Six doesn't roll her eyes or make a sarcastic remark as she usually did whenever Sarah spoke. Instead, she just nods her head. "Who knew cheerleading could help you fight aliens later in life, huh?" She looks over at me, catching my eye for a small moment, before looking back to her map, and her message was clear. She was going to give Sarah a chance for me. I guess Sam's kindness was starting to rub off on her a little.

"I, for one, always knew cheerleaders could kick some intergalactic ass," Sam says loudly. His forehead still has the vague outline of the drawing, even after an hour of scrubbing. "I mean, it makes perfect sense."

"Really?" Sarah turns back to him. "How?"

As Sam launches into a detailed and completely bogus explanation, I take that moment to realize just how lucky I was. Whether I was born a Lorien fighting for my life, or a human fighting for a job, there was no other place I would rather be.

"""""

_Traitor, Deserter, Betrayer. _

_The words were like stones on her shoulders; she has been weighted down with them since birth. One couldn't even begin to describe the pain of being hated by an entire planet, of being the reason why thousands, tens of thousands, millions of beings were brought to death. Depression sat over her like a heavy cloud that never disappeared. She had no one on this planet, no one on the next. _

_There was only him, but even she knew he harbored resentment over his decision to take her with him. _

_She had no purpose, no one expected anything from her. The others, she didn't know how many were out there, who were left, they wouldn't accept her, especially if there protectors told them who she was, or rather, who her parents had been. She barely remembered her birth parents, or her grandparents. Frankly, she didn't care much for any of them. They had been the reason why she had been an outcast her entire life, why she was hated despite not being at fault. Their blood ran through her veins, and she could never escape that fact. Whatever caused them to do what they had, it was in her too. Hell, the Mogadorians would probably hoist her on their shoulders and celebrate at finding her. Then probably kill her._

_There was no way to attain to the sins of her parents, no way to right the wrongs passed. She had no right to ask for forgiveness, and the others would not grant it either. All she could do was hide. _

_It was not enough anymore. She wanted to do more, needed to do more. _

_She didn't know what the expect if she ran into any of the other Loriens on earth, whether they would welcome her with open arms or kill her on the spot, but she couldn't let fear of the unknown stop her anymore. He wouldn't try and keep her from leaving, he wouldn't be able to if he wanted to anyway. _

"_It's not a good idea."_

"_Well, my family is famous for their shitty ideas, it's the reason for this whole mess anyway, right? I'm just living up to my name," she pulls on her jacket, throwing her shoulder bag on. "I've never asked you this, but I'm probably going to die, so tell me why, why did you save me?"_

_Malcolm Goode clasps his hands before him, looking the girl straight in the eyes. He'd thought that question over a million times from the moment his ship left Lorien. And, through the hours of searching his brain for the reason, the answer came so simply in the end. "Because it wasn't your fault," he says, sitting back. "A child should never have to pay for their parents mistake." _

_Tell that to the others, she thinks in her head grimly. As she moves to the door, she stops, turning back to the man who had watched her and cared for her as far back as she can remember. "Thank you." He nods his head once. "If I find Sam, I'll be sure to tell him you said hi." Number Ten leaves the small apartment and the safety it provides, pulls her hood over her eyes, and walks down the hall without turning back…_

_**AN: And so Number Ten finally makes an appearance, as well as Malcolm Goode :) Please review, let me know your thoughts and ideas on where you want the story to go. Laters!**_


	21. Chapter 21

_**AN : Hey Guys!**_

_**First off, a big APOLOGY for the longer break between updates, for some reason I've been having trouble writing this chapter, or this story rather. I've just been writing oneshots for a while, just so I'm doing something, but then I got some really awesome reviews and got inspired. **_

_**Hope you guys like this chapter, goes into a bit of backstory in a few characters. **_

_**Big thanks to 'AllShamNoWow' for your idea!**_

**ATHENS - GREECE**

"Training!"

Damien's authorative voice interrupts all of our conversations, and I stand at attention as he walks up to me. Looking to my side, I can see Ben, Kayla and Six standing very much the same. By the house, sitting out on the back porch, Sarah and Sam both watch on. She smiles as I catch her eye. We'd been at this new place for two days, settling in. I liked being in a house again, and this one was pretty nice. There were 4 rooms, Damien took one, Six and Kayla were sharing another, and Ben and Sam arm-wrestled for the third, Ben's idea, so Sam was crashing on the couch. Which left the last room for Sarah and I. Yeah; it definitely had its perks.

"You're days of slacking off are over," the Cepan paces back and forth in front of us, addressing us like a drill sergeant to his army, until Six finally cuts him off.

"Is this really necessary?"

"I know. I feel like I'm in boot camp or something," Ben complains.

Damien laughs, "I'm just messing with you. But seriously now, we're going to have to knuckle down and get back into our training if we want to defeat the Mogs. Don't get big heads just because we've taken down a Mogadorian settlement.."

"That _was _pretty impressive," Ben cracks his knuckles.

"And the Ryion," Kayla smiles over as they both remember fighting the beast.

"It's all childs play if you compare it to some of the other things the Mogadorians have up their sleeves. Remember, they overtook our entire planet, defeated members of the Garde like they were nothing. Ryion's are nothing compared to some of the other creatures under the Mogs control."

"Way to build confidence, Damien." That was Ben again.

"Don't get my wrong, you guys have the potential to win this war. All of you have amazing legacies, each of you are the offspring of some of the most powerful members of the Garde. Your powers are weapons, a tool to wield, but just like any weapon, you need to train yourself to wield it. You won't be winning anything if you just coast by on your skills now. You're powerful, but with the right training, with focus, you'll all be unstoppable. Now," he claps his hands together, making his way up to me. "You're a powerful fighter John, you're fast and a far better strategist then Ben."

"Hey!"

"But more important than your fighting abilities, is your Lumen legacy," he holds my hand up by the wrist, and I power up my Lumen with ease. Even in sunlight, the blue light is visible, humming softly. "I'm sure you recognized how much of an asset it is when the Seer was going through your mind.."

"I know. I thought it was a lightning strike," Six becomes animated as she recaps on the fight. "All I saw was you lift into the air and become this ball of light, and then you went off, like a bomb or something."

"Self-defense," Damien nods his head. "You had no control over it, I presume."

"I just wanted the Seer to stop, I barely remember what happened."

"Sometimes in a battle, you need people out in the field that will give up some of their own power and energy to help others, boost up their fighters. Since you have Lumen, your endurance should be a lot larger then the others. One thing about your Lumen is if you fire it on another Lorien for long enough, they can tap into abilities far stronger then if they were going at it alone."

"So you want me to stand back and let the others fight, fire at them every so often?" Everyone out there could tell I'm pissed.

"Not at all. Just remember that you're the only one out there on the battlefield that can strengthen the others. They'll tire where you won't."

I nod my head rather reluctantly, and see Sam give me the thumbs up with a goofy grin, and Sarah laughing. "I got it," I mumble finally.

"Good." He walks to Kayla at my side. "You're legacy is about as common as invisibility back on Lorien, there is not a lot I know about it. How many people can you trick at one time?"

She shrugs. "I couldn't tell you. When Allison was training me, we got up to four or five humans, and that was a struggle. But when my life was in danger, I forced an illusion on nine Mogadorians."

"And it was hard?"

Kayla nodded. "But I held it for about 3 minutes, managed to get away. With the right training, I'm sure I can get it to the point where it's not so much of a struggle."

"And what about the Ryion?"

The Ryion... I think back to the night of the attack. My memories after the Seer attack were hazy at best, but I can recall seeing Kayla standing before me, hand outstretched at the immense beast, stopping it in it's tracks.

"That has hard, like trying to break through a brick wall," she admits. "I didn't do an illusion, I more just scrambled with its mind."

"Confused it?" Damien pressed on, his eyes almost burning in curiosity.

"Yeah, I guess."

"And you can do this with every subject? Is confusing it easier than creating an illusion?"

Kayla nods her head once. "Not nearly as effective, though. If anything, it'll just buy as time."

"Time can be the difference between a win and a defeat."

"Man," Ben sighs aloud, folding his arms. "You are full of fortune cookie sayings this morning, aren't you Damien?" He gets a smack up the head, but Ben just laughs. I have a feeling he was pretty used to the feeling by now.

"You, I can just skip right passed."

"Because I'm so impressive already," he tenses his arm.

"If I'd known you'd grow up to be so cocky, Ben," Damien shakes his head, "I'd have let the Mog's get you years ago."

"Please, you love me."

"Not nearly enough to put up with your attitude," Damien jokes kind-heartedly. "You're the muscle, the grunt. All I need you to do is fight."

"I have a question!" We all turn to look at Sam, who has his arm raised up like a school kid. "I'm no expert on Lorien-ism or anything, but aside from telekinesis, you all have two legacies, right?"

"Yeah, what's your point?" Six calls back.

"Well, if Ben's super strong, what's his second legacy?"

I turn back to Ben, wondering why the hell I hadn't thought about that in the first place.

"My charm and good looks," he gives a half-shrug, and Six punches him in the arm as soon as the words leave his mouth. "Owe!"

"What is your other legacy, Benjamin?" Kayla asks, hands on her hips and head tilted to the side.

Ben shrugs. "Nothing so far."

"My first legacy was animal telepathy," I say. "I had it for ages and didn't even know it."

"Well, I haven't heard any birds talking if that's what you mean."

Six rolls her eyes. "I think John means maybe you have your Legacy and you don't even know it."

Damien shrugs. "If he does, it's damn elusive, that's for sure." He shakes his head, walking back to his spot in front of us. "As it is, we're going to work with what we've been given. This legacy might appear when we most need it." He walks over, stopping finally in front of Six. "You're an amazing worrier."

"Clearly the teachers pet," Ben mumbles under his breath, and I laugh. Six was the best fighter though; there was no point in denying it, or getting envious either. I thank my lucky stars Six is as good as she is, otherwise I'd be dead a hundred times over.

"Don't be jealous now," Kayla nudges Ben in the ribs with her elbow.

"I know what I need to do," Six says, lifting her chin high. "You don't need to worry about me, Damien."

"I worry about you the most," he says right back.

"Well don't." She folds her arms, successfully ending the conversation. "Now, if we're done talking, can we get to training now."

Ben nods his head enthusiastically. "Yeah, Gossip Girl's on in an hour, Six can't miss it."

I can see Six giving Sam the death stare, and I just laugh. We were a good group, all of us together, different personalities, each one, but somehow we all meshed together, like a whacky family you'd see on some reality TV program. I stand back and watch as Ben starts lifting rocks with his telekinesis. Man, this would be one hell of a weird TV show!

On the deck, the two humans watch the training session with interest. "Hey Sarah?"

"Uh huh?"

"I have a question… one that may be incredibly awkward for you to answer, and one that will probably spoil our happy little friendship we have got going on," Sam motions between himself and an amused Sarah, who nods her head.

"Go on."

"Alright," Sam slaps his hands together. "So, John and I are good buddies, you know, we tell each other stuff about, um, each other, and he uh," Sam feels a blush creep into his cheeks, his face feeling a lot warmer.

Sarah quickly cottons on to what he was eluding to, and drops her head slightly. "You mean John told you about the visions I get," she finishes for him. Sam nods his head in relief. "And I'm guessing he told you _how _I get them?"

"In so many words," Sam mumbles quickly. "It's just, and I mean this in the most non-perverted way, Sarah, but how do you _feel_, you know, right before it happens?"

"Oh…" she clears her throat, shifting a little on the deck chair. "You know, you were right, this is incredibly awkward."

"I know, I'm sorry… but it's just, can you keep a secret?"

"A lot better then John can, apparently."

"Well, Six and I have taken another step into our strange yet lovable relationship."

"You mean you've started having sex."

"Okay, not that big of a step, more like a shuffle, but we've kissed and stuff… it's just, I've never had a vision or anything like that, not even come close I think." Sarah looks over to him, it was clear that he was bothered by it.

"Well.. I'm sure it doesn't mean anything, Sam."

"That's what I keep telling myself, but I overheard," not eavesdropped, "a conversation between John and Damien, and Damien was saying that having visions happens when the two are really close, you know, truly close, and I have to wonder whether Six even wants me to know her like that. I just kind of wish that we had what you and John have." He falls silent, looking out at the group before them, his eyes falling onto the feisty blonde in an almost painful way.

Sarah can relate, she had often looked at John the same way back in Paradise, when he had been ignoring her over the whole Mark thing. She knew what it felt like to want someone so much it hurt. "I don't really know Six that well," she starts, taking a breath. "But she just kind of comes across as someone who needs a little longer to deal with their emotions, just give her time, Sam."

To be perfectly honest, she had no idea whether or not Six loved Sam. It was hard for her to imagine Six loving anyone outwardly. Her and John were polar opposites in that area, Sarah's boyfriend had no problem showing affection, and he wore his heart on his sleeve. It was one of the many reasons why she had fallen for him in the first place.

Back on the field, Damien watches as his four students run through their paces, tennis balls and wooden blocks flying this way and that through the air, figures leaping in an elaborate dance. Back on Lorien, any one student like them would have been assigned 3 different trainers, along with one full time Cepan. Having four under his care was exhausting, and not very effective for any of them.

He needed another Cepan with him.

"""""

_**CENTRE AIRQUARTERS – LORIEN**_

_**0249 hours**_

"_We don't have a moment to spare! Hurry!" Brandon tries not to roll his eyes. The Lorien Elders were sure good at stating the obvious. He knew there was a reason they were around. He knew he could be killed for thinking what he was now, but he didn't care. _

_This whole damn planet was under attack, and the Lorien people were unprepared for it. Partly, due to the Elder's stupidity! He recalls all the council meetings now, the words thrown around. 'We are indestructible! Our Lorien Garde has never been stronger! Let the Mogadorians come, we shall wipe the ground with them!' Bet they hadn't thought that one of their own would turn on them._

_Now they were nothing but a quivering mess, standing in the cargo bay as the people they were charged to protect were burning around them. Some of the more selfish members had even tried to negotiate passage to earth. The Cepan's would have none of it. Brandon looks across the room to some of the other protectors around, holding their charges close. _

_Beneath his arm, the young boy clutched to his side, looking up at him. He had been his protector for a few years now, cared for him like he'd imagine a father cared for his son. Not that he would know. _

"_Gather the children, we must do the charm, before it is too late," a soldier came and dragged my charge away, I could just catch sight of his desperate look at me before he disappears into a room, the door shutting behind them. _

"_What do you think they're doing in there?" Emily appears at my side, her dark hair tied back, the scar above her eyebrow visible. _

"_I know what they're supposed to be doing," Brandon folds his arms. "Some protective charm over them. Notice how they leave us legacy-free members of society out of it." _

"_Like most things," she gives me a small smile. _

_One of the other Cepan's, Damien, walks over, standing at Emily's side. "This better not take too damn long. The Elder's only seem to work on their schedule, even during war." _

_The Mogadorians will still a while away, but none of the Cepan's wanted stick around on this planet any longer then needed. By now, any loved ones will have been captured, or dead if they were lucky. Brandon watches as Emily slips her hand through Damiens, eyes fixed to the door. _

_It opens after a while, and all the children file out, white faces and pale. "They have been numbered, one through to nine. Their identities must be kept safe, use only fake names from now on! Keep them safe, they are our hope!" He calls out the numbers, and when Four is called, Brandon's charge walks forward, blonde hair in disarray. Brandon takes his hand, looking across to see the others doing much the same. _

"_Let's go."_

""""""

_**EAST 123**__**rd**__** SECTOR – LORIEN**_

_**0301 hours**_

"_Come on, we don't have a bloody second to waste!" Malcolm Goode speaks in a harsh tone at the two figures before him. He was right, however. _

_The Mogadorians were relentlessly smashing a path through the Lorien Garde, destroying everyone and thing that got it their way. Malcolm had a pistol; he doubted it would be much use. Even those with the strongest legacies he'd seen were falling. He was a man with a gun. _

_He has to wonder how he gets himself into this mess. Please, God, don't let Sam have inherited his stupidity._

"_How can we trust you?" the elderly woman asks, shielding the young girl behind her. _

_Malcolm didn't have time for this crap. "I'm getting the hell off this planet," he jerks a finger to his ship, sitting idle outside. "With or without her. You're most welcome to take your chances here, but I doubt you'll have any friends left, with your own race or with theirs. You and I both know the only chance she's got is with me." Frankly, Malcolm wasn't even sure if he gave a damn about them. They deserved whatever came their way. But the girl… she wasn't at fault. "I'm giving her a chance at a normal life… you and I both know that no matter what the outcome of the war is, she will never have that here." _

_The woman finally falters. "Take her with you, Malcolm Goode. Keep her safe."_

_He nods his head, purposely ignoring the consequences of what he was about to do._

_He'd been called a lot of things since arriving on this planet, 'Alien, Stranger, Recluse,' he supposes adding 'Traitor' to the list wouldn't hurt. _

_The woman drops to her knees and pulls the young girl into her embrace. She's barely five years old, and the look of confusion on her face just deepens the empty pit in Malcolm's chest. _

"_I need you to be strong, Evelyn, my mira," she presses a kiss to her forehead._

_That's when the banging starts. The Mog's had come. _

_She gets to her feet, turning to Malcolm. "Go, Malcolm Goode! I will hold them off for as long as I can. You must hurry." Her eyes blaze alight as burning hot flames erupt on her hands. _

_As Malcolm bends down and scoops the girl into his arms, he hears the woman mumbling something in Lorien, before she continues in English, "May the skies and great space prove clear, may your journey prove safe. _

_Malcolm runs outside to his ship. Further down, he can see the other vessel, carrying the Lorien Nine and their Cepans. Their ship made his look like a clunky misshapen brick in comparison. _

_Further away, all around him, fires raged on, beast and man cried alike in the horrible chorus of war. Inside, he straps the girl into a seat, vaulting to his own chair and running through his take off procedure roughly. He hears screams coming from inside the house, and tries not to picture what is happening to the woman he was just talking to._

_As his ship takes to the air, he spares a glance at his only passenger. "What's you're name?" he asks in a gruff voice. She does not reply, so he presses on. "You grandmother called you Evelyn, is that your name?" She gives a small nod. Sitting there, blue eyes glistening, bottom lip trembling slightly, he knows why he felt such a need to save this girl._

_It was a simple, undeniable truth._

_She reminded him of _her_…_

"""""

**MUNICH – GERMANY**

He had told her the story of her rescue time and again as she grew up. It never made her feel any better about being alive.

Malcolm had been a… well, she wouldn't go as far to say 'good', more an 'adequate' caregiver over the past 11 years.

As the stowaway child of a traitorous family, she hadn't been afforded the same luxuries as her fellow Loriens. There had been no bag of jewels to be used for funds, no knowledgeable Lorien protector, and certainly no mythical protective charm over her.

She supposed she didn't need one. To her knowledge, neither the Mog's nor the surviving Loriens knew she even existed.

"Can I help you, miss?"

She looks over to the voice that spoke, a rather nervous looking waitress who held her notepad before her with a shaky hand. She doesn't know why people get nervous around her, but they do. Another fact of life.

"I'm fine," she waves the girl away, content to pick at the huge dark slice of chocolate cake on the table in front of her. She hadn't actually taken a bite of it yet.

It had been 3 days since she left Mexico and Malcolm behind, and that waitress was the first person she had spoken to. Maybe she had been too rash in packing up and leaving, maybe she hadn't thought it through enough? She huffs, another family trait no doubt. She tended to blame anything bad about herself on her parents and grandparents before her. It was easy, they couldn't say anything back.

She didn't have a plan, just a goal. Find the others. She would deal with the consequences when they came.

And she had picked up a possible lead. It was sheer luck to found it at all. It was a small blurb in the newspaper about an old power station in Athens, Greece going up in flames for no apparent reason. There had been massive amounts of damage, concrete blocks ground to dust, and firefighters had no idea what the cause was. It was been put down to one of the old reactors malfunctioning, however implausible that would be.

She'd experienced the Mogadorians first hand, and she'd heard all the war stories from Malcolm. Mog's dwelt in old places like that, almost hiding in plain sight. Which meant, if she were correct, someone had brought the fight to them instead of the other way around.

She had booked a ticket to Athens straight away, her plane didn't leave until 8 pm, and so she had a few hours to kill. She'd figure out the rest of her plan when she landed.

A few minutes on, she stands and leaves the table without eating the cake at all, pulling on her jacket and walking down the road.

"""""

Training lasts until sundown, nothing too spectacular. I hate to admit it, but we had become a little rusty after the prolonged period of rest we'd had. I was struggling with my telekinesis; even the tennis ball exercise had me sweating. Henri would be kicking my ass if he were alive. I take Bernie for a sprint through the immense backyard we had, racing him through an unbeaten track, pushing myself until my lungs were burning.

Damien wanted to stay put in this house until we had all gotten back into shape. Then we would move to the offensive. Basically, we would start our search for the Mogadorians, and kill them. The thought brought a smile to my face. The hunted became the hunters.

_Tired, John?_ How on earth could a Beagle be so sarcastic… maybe because he wasn't _from _earth.

I laugh, "Not even close." We run for a good hour, and I'm a little smug to see my Chimera's tongue drooping from its mouth. I open the back door and slip inside, unzipping my grey sweater and tossing it aside. There are pizza boxes strewn over the kitchen table, and I grab two slices, tossing one to Bernie and taking a huge bite of my own.

"Hey John, we found a bunch of movies in the cupboard," Sam appears almost out of nowhere, holding up a cover.

"It's a video-tape," I raise my eyebrow.

"I know! And there was a VCR hooked up to the television."

"You mean you're so desperate to watch a movie, you'll resort to videotape quality?" I put a hand over my mouth in shock.

"Desperate times," Sam shrugs. "We're going to watch Jurassic Park. Damien picked it because, and I quote, 'it reminds him of the animals back on Lorien."

I take a look at Bernie, who's chomping away at his pizza. I've seen my Chimera in his other form, Damien was not exaggerating. I look around the lounge, to Six sitting on the couch, eyes pointed at the static on the TV screen, Kayla and Ben playing cards on the floor, and Damien crouching before the VCR player, muttering under his breath as he tried to get the thing going again. "Where's Sarah?"

"I think she's in the shower," Sam replies, vaulting over the couch and landing beside Six.

I go to my bedroom, opening the door and finding it empty. I pull my tee shirt over my head and toss it into the corner, taking a seat on the end of the bed and reaching for my notebook.

The whole notebook thing had been Sarah's idea, actually. She told me that I should write down everything I remember about Lorien, draw the visions in my head, write down the dreams I had, everything I remember about my grandparents, Henri, and Bernie, even my experience with the Seer, document everything to help me process it. And it worked. Seeing it on paper before me kind of helped in a small way. My nightmares of the Seer had stopped.

And the visions Sarah got had somewhat lessened as well. They came far more infrequently now, compared to when she had first come on the run with me. Sometimes, we would just be lying side by side, and I'd reach over and touch her face, triggering another vision.

I open my book to the world map cut out, where I had marked the location of the remaining Loriens. I start scribbling, _Number Five found in London, Number Nine found in Greece, Number Seven_… Taking a breath, I push myself to continue, _Number Seven deceased. Number Eight last position, Russia. _There was no telling whether they were still there or not. The only thing I was sure of was that they were still alive. My hand goes to my calf muscle, fingers running over the scars slowly, painful reminders of the dangers that lay ahead. And then there was Number Ten. Damien refused to talk about them, for whatever reason. But I had grown to trust the Cepan like I had with Henri, and I knew Damien would have a good reason to be acting the way he was about this particular Lorien.

The bedroom door swings open, but I don't look up until Sarah speaks. "I've been thinking…"

I put the notebook to the side and fold my arms. "Should I be worried?"

"Hmm?"

"Well, in all the movies I've watched, when a girl says they've been thinking, it usually means trouble for the guy."

She smiles, shaking her head and walking into our shared room, the door swinging to a shut behind her. "I've been thinking, and I think we should have sex." I, then, successfully manage to choke on nothing, spluttering in breath. Was I hallucinating again? I thought I got over that, apparently not. It could be a dream; it wouldn't have been the first time this happened… "Well, don't you want to?"

I finally pull myself together enough to speak. "Is that supposed to be a trick question?" Pushing up from the bed to my feet, I walk over to her. "You can just assume any guy who looks at you wants to sleep with you, Sarah." I put a hand to her cheek and lean in to kiss her, because it seems like the right thing to do at the time, but she puts her hand to my mouth, effectively stopping my embrace. "What?" I mumble against her palm.

"You didn't answer my question?"

I pull her hand from my mouth. "Of course I want to sleep with you."

"So…"

"So… can I ask you a question?" She nods her head. "What's brought this on?"

"Just something Sam said to me this afternoon."

I make a mental note to thank Sam next time I see him. "So…" I swallow, "I'll schedule it in?" I offer.

Sarah grins, pushing a chaste kiss to my lips. "Good," she slips out of the room, leaving me pretty confused as to what exactly just happened…

_**AN : What do you guys think? Good, Crap? **_

_**Hit me with any ideas too, love them all. **_

_**Thanks! **_


	22. Chapter 22

_**AN: I loved each and every review I received, and am kind of a little overwhelmed at the response I'm getting, so a big THANK YOU to all you took the time to review, it's so encouraging to know that some people and reading and enjoying my story.**_

_**I apoligize again for the gap between updates, finding time between work to write seems to get harder and harder.**_

_**Just to clear up, for those of you readers who were wondering who Brandon was in the last chapter, in the 'I Am Number Four' book, John has a flashback to his time on Lorien, and 'Brandon' had been Henri's real name. Sorry I didn't make that any clearer.**_

_**Anyhow, I've rambled on enough. Hope you enjoy this chapter:)**_

Six was bored.

This waiting around was driving her crazy, literally crazy. She wanted, no, she _needed_ to get out of this house, to fight, to run, to move. Ever since her Cepan, Katerina had been murdered, it felt like an eternity ago, Six had to fight for her own survival. She had always been on the run, tracking down the other Loriens, pursuing the Mog's that had killed her beloved Cepan, and taking from them what they took from her, again and again, over and over.

She had been scraped and cut and bruised over every inch of her skin, and she had _thrived_ from it. She missed the freedom of being alone, relying on nobody but herself. Not that she would ever tell that to the others, they seemed all happy to stay as a group.

Thinking back to her days alone, she just smiles. She had done some crazy things, stolen bikes, robbed banks, crashed parties of the rich and wealthy, all for the hell of it. She had slipped in and out of a hundred different identities.

She wondered what she would do with herself once this war was over, when, not if, they won the battle against the Mogadorians. With them alive, she had a purpose, a reason, a goal to fight for. So when they were wiped out… well, she could never see herself settling down and having kids, the white picket fence and the Labrador dog playing on the front lawn, she'd leave all that shit to John and Sarah.

She shoots a look to Sam at her side, his brown eyes fixed unblinkedly to the screen, and a small smile plays on her lips. He was a good guy, a great guy. He was kind and sweet and put up with her constant mood swings. And he was a surprisingly good kisser. She had kissed a few guys before Sam. After all, she'd been a single girl with absolute freedom; she only took what she needed from them, no serious commitment, no strings attached. As far as kisses went, Sam gave as good as he got.

She was generally the one who initiated the kisses. Some mornings, Six would wake up and be happy with not seeing Sam at all, and others, she would literally pull him into the bedroom, or closet, or wherever was the closest secluded area, and attack him. She wasn't the most stable girl around, that was for sure.

But she liked fun, and excitement, and sneaking around was a fix, a small but acceptable one.

Six found her gaze drift to Ben lying on his stomach on the floor. They hadn't really talked too much since the whole love triangle crap that went on with them. She kind of missed his company, though she would never admit to it in a million years. They had been friends at one point. And there had been a moment where she had considered the possibility of Ben, and all that he had promised… Ugh, see this kind of thinking was why she absolutely _hated_ sitting around doing nothing!

So when Sarah walked up to her and asked if she could train her up, Six leapt to her feet at the idea. Anything was better then sitting on that couch watching videos.

The two girls head out onto the back lawn. It was a clear day, hardly a cloud in the sky. "Thanks for doing this," Sarah says. "I know it means a lot to John, and to me too…" Six shrugs Sarah's 'thank you' off, circling around to face her. "Why are you helping me anyway? For whatever reason, you and I don't exactly get along too well."

"That's my fault," Six says, lifting Sarah's arms out and helping her stretch. "I don't take too well to strangers unless they're my species."

"So you're racist?" Sarah asks lightly.

"You could say that. More like on guard. A person has to earn my trust, I don't give it easily." She steps back. "Being closed off has been a facet of my personality since preschool, don't take it personally. In any case, John's in love with you, right? Which means you're going to be around for a while, so I will help you fight."

She ran through the basic self-defense moves with Sarah, and found her a quick learner and far more capable at hand-to-hand combat than Sam would ever be. She was a little surprised to say the least, Sarah didn't exactly give off a dangerous vibe at all… more of a school valedictorian vibe, whatever that was.

When she feels comfortable enough with Sarah's skill, she goes into the house and returns with one of the Lorien daggers. The crystal on the end of the handle is glowing blue in her hands, but it dims out when Sarah takes it. "Don't worry," Six says when Sarah raises an eyebrow at her. "The blade is still sharp, just less illuminated. I guess our weapons are a little racist too."

Sarah looks down at the blade in her hand, and for whatever reason, her heart starts pounding in her chest. "I don't think I can do this…"

"Do what? Train?"

"Yes," Sarah swallows, hoping John isn't anywhere around. He never reacted well to her tears, and she had a feeling she was on the verge of crying. "I've seen the Mogs, they're 8 foot tall monsters, with super strength and pointy teeth… honestly, I have no chance in beating one in a fight."

Six raises an eyebrow at her. "So, why did you ask me to train you?"

"I did it for John. He has so much respect for you, and he's, like, convinced that training with you will mean I'll be able to defend myself… and I might, to a certain extent. But I'm not cut out for this, Six. I mean, I like taking photographs, and before I met John, the most important thing in my life was getting into a good college. I was normal. And now, I've given up my family and friends and I'm on the run with a group of people I barely know… and I have to learn to fight these creatures that have given me nightmares from the minute I saw them…"

Six listens on as Sarah speaks, the girls voice as fragile as her emotions were. "Have you ever told John any of this?" she asks when Sarah finishes speaking.

"Are you kidding me? He wouldn't know what to do if I told him how I was feeling. He'd send me straight back to Ohio, and I don't want to go back there. I just want to be with him… but he's in the middle of a war. I want to be able to fight, but I'm not an idiot. An 18-year-old ex-cheerleader fighting a Mogadorian soldier. Odds aren't even counted in a battle like that."

She turns away, walking to a patch of grass where sunlight has filtered through the treetops, and sits down, laying the dagger beside her. This would be the perfect opportunity for Six to high tail it the hell out of there, go get John, or Sam or Kayla. Each was far more emotionally equipped to deal with the situation. But she doesn't.

Instead, she walks over and sits down beside Sarah, leaning back onto her eyebrows and looking up at the sky. The two girls sit there in silence for a long while, both lost in their own thoughts.

Sarah didn't really know what came over her. Looking at the dagger really brought it home to her. If she wanted to be with John, she needed to learn how to fight. She had to accept that any life of comfort and security would have to wait. They were being hunted now, each and every one of them.

"I never really looked at it from that perspective before." Six keeps her eyes pointed upwards. "You fell in love before you knew who you were falling in love with."

"I love John… I do. But loving him doesn't make the situation go away, and it doesn't make it any easier to deal with."

Six looks over at her, sees her eyes glassy with tears that she would never let fall so she wouldn't hurt John. In a way, Sarah was making the biggest sacrifice out of all of them. John, Six and Kayla had no protectors now, no family, Ben and Damien were still a team through and through, while Sam left an abusive stepfather and a mother who was too drunk most of the time to care. His biological father, the only member of the family Sam loved, was connected to Lorien. Of course he would want to go with those linked to his father.

Sarah left a loving home, with two parents. Even_ that _was a rarity some children wished for. And a younger brother too. Six would never experience what that bond felt like, but if was anything like what she and John were like, it would be difficult to just up and leave everything behind. She was starting to grow a newfound respect for the blonde girl sitting at her side.

"Come on," Six gets to her feet, holding out a hand to Sarah. "I promise by the time I finish your training, the Mogadorians will be running away from _you_."

Sarah smiles, accepting Six's olive branch offering, and pulling herself to her feet. Six holds out her other hand, and the dagger sails into her palm, while Sarah watches with envious eyes. "See? If you could somehow palm off your legacies to us poor powerless humans, that would be great."

The two girls laugh as they head back into the clearing where they usually trained.

"Six! Sarah!" They turn to the deck where Sam is calling them, hands cupped around his mouth. "We've got a Team Lorien meeting to attend, humans welcome."

"""""

Damien was the one to call us all together. Over the past few days, I had seen him working away in his room, maps of towns and cities spread over the Cepans bed and floor.

I move up to the kitchen table, in between Six and Ben, looking down at the map laying over the tabletop. Glancing around, it looks like a scene from some kind of bank robbery movie, where each team member plays a specific role for a portion of the money. I huff, if only that were the case!

"As far as I see it, we've got two options. The first, we move from town to town, city to city, and hunt out the Mogs." Damien points out the travel path. "I've already looked into the most effective routes to take. Or we can go search out Number Eight. They were last in Russia; chances are they've moved on by now. Either option has its dangers. I think a vote will be the best way to decide. We're all a team now, and we should make decisions as a team."

"I want to go after the Mogs," Ben and Six both say in unison.

Kayla clears her throat. "I disagree. Ben, you've never experienced the feeling of having nobody, John, you've got Sarah and Sam. You don't know what it's like to be alone in this world. I remember the feeling, and I hated it. I was terrified ninety percent of the time, and unconscious the other ten. I think we should search out Number 8, find them before the Mogadorians do. We only have a small window, and when the Mogs find out we've started our attack, you bet your ass they're gonna focus on taking 8 out while they're alone."

"She's right," I say, gripping the edge of the table.

"Look, I did alright on my own," says Six. "If Number 8 has got any brains, they would be moving constantly. Finding them is going to be impossible. Let them find us. I'm done sitting around twirling my hair. Every second we waste doing nothing is another second the Mogs have to plan."

Damien nods his head once. "Sarah, Sam? What about you two? You're part of this team now."

I look at Sarah, who avoids my eyes. "I think Six and Ben are right." Ah, that's why she didn't want to look at me. "Six has a point, logically Number Eight should be on the move. As far as I know, you guys," she motions to the resident aliens in the room, "you're all experts at being invisible. The Mogadorians not so much. It seems tracking down the Mogadorians will be the most effective thing to do. Hopefully if Number Eight is searching for you guys, they know what they're looking for. But I don't think my vote should count. I won't be much good in a fight."

"Give me another few weeks training," Six puts in with the smallest of smiles.

"I'm happy either way," Sam mumbles.

"I agree with Kayla and John," Damien says.

"Well, that was effective," Ben jokes. "It's a tie, three-on-three. It's nice to know we are all on the same page, team."

"What if we split?" Trust Six to voice the one thing we'd all been thinking. "If we all split off, we can cover double, even triple the amount of ground, strictly recon stuff. We search for signs of Number 8, or any Mog activity. If we find a settlement, we regroup and attack."

"Split up…" Damien had to admit, the plan had logic to it. But as a Cepan, letting anyone of these kids out of his sight went against everything he'd been taught.

"I think Six is right," Ben folds his arms, leaning back against the wall behind him.

"So do I," I say.

"So, how are we going to split?" Damien asks, looking at the six people in front of him.

"Naturally, a human paired with a Lorien," Sam says. "It would just be wrong to leave one of us poor mortals on our own."

"It's only recon, I can handle being alone," Damien says. "You can figure out the rest of the teams yourselves. Two teams of three, or three teams of two."

"I think we should pair up," Ben is the first to speak.

"I don't think so," I shake my head. "Recon is recon, but if something goes down, I don't want it just Sarah and I in a fight."

"So, teams of three," Six puts in almost impatiently. "I'll go with John and Sarah. I can continue Sarah's training, and John and I fight well together. From what I saw and heard at the power station, so do you two," she looks between Ben and Kayla, purposely ignoring Sam's hurt and confused look.

"So it's settled then?" Everyone answers Damien's question with a single nod of their head. "Alright, this meeting is dismissed then. Six, John, you two stay behind. I need to talk to you."

"Oh oh, somebody's in trouble.." Ben sing songs as he leaves the room.

"Yeah, real mature, Ben," Kayla says, quickly ending Five's rant. She pulls the door shut behind her, leaving Six, Damien and I alone.

The Cepan turns to face us, his expression void of any emotion. "I think it's time."

I look across the room to Six, who looks just as confused as me. "Time for what?" I ask.

"Yes, you're being kind of cryptic, Damien," Six adds.

Damien is gripping the edge of the wooden table chair before him tightly, and what he says next he says fast. "Time to tell you about Ten."

I straighten up, eyes widening. Six takes a step forwards. "Number Ten…"

"I thought you said we should all forget about Number Ten," I mumble.

"Yeah, well, as it is now, I don't think that's an option anymore. If we are going to split up, I want you two to know all the facts." He motions Six and I to sit, before starting his usual pace around the room, something I notice Damien does when he's either uncomfortable or extremely pissed off. I had a feeling he was both right now. "I will have to ask you to pay close attention to what I'm about to tell you, since I have absolutely_ no_ intention of repeating myself."

I look to the closed door, folding my arms. "Shouldn't we call Ben and Kayla back in then…"

"No," Damien cuts me off with a shake of his head. "Only you two. Whether you realize it or not, you two have fallen into the role of leaders. I'm not going to be around forever, but when I'm not around, Ben and Kayla will look to you, John. They kind of already are now. You look out for them, and Six is one of the best strategists I've seen, on this planet or the next. If I die…" he pauses, trying to push the very thought of his demise from his mind. It was a fate most of the Cepan's he had traveled with had already met. He forces himself to continue. "If I die, I need to make sure the war effort doesn't die with me, that you two will continue to fight on just as hard as you are."

"We will, Damien," I say after a while.

"What does this have to do with Ten?"

Damien speaks on like he's reciting a speech, or reading from some textbook. I feel like a school student again. "Number Ten comes from one of the most respected families on Lorien. If you guys were middle-class, Ten was a celebrity. Her father was a valued member of the Elders, leaders on our planet that were charged with the welfare of our people, diplomacy…"

"Like a government?"

"In a way. The Elders had a lot more power then any human government though, and a hell of a lot more respect from the people they were charged to protect." Damien thinks back to the Elders. He didn't have too many dealings with them, in fact, he'd only really come face to face with the Council his last day on Lorien, right before the ship took off. "Number Ten's father was missing the day of the attack, and nobody could locate him." Anger that had long been brewing was starting to bubble out. "Aside from his other responsibilities, he had been in charge of the Lorien planetary defense system, as well as keeping a log of any ships that were to come and to leave…"

"He betrayed the people?" Six finally finishes.

"We do not fully know. But logically, who else could it be? False reports were fed to the Council stating that the planetary defense was up and running. If that were the case, the Mogadorian ships could have never entered our atmosphere. Our cannons weren't operational… it was a blood bath, a massacre. Hundreds of lives were lost in one second. There had been no warning, nothing." Damien continues on in somber tone, filling in gaps missed in the visions I had seen when first getting my legacies. But something wasn't adding up in my head.

"So, you say that this man was never found…"

Damien shakes his head.

"So there isn't any proof that he is guilty then?"

"There damn well is!" Damien punches down on the table with a bang. "Weren't you listening, John? There is no other way that the Mogadorians could have gotten through our atmosphere without _him_ selling us out!"

I look over to Six, whose face is expressionless as usual. But I can feel her turmoil over the situation too. Maybe it was because we hadn't experienced the destruction of Lorien first hand like Damien, but neither of us were sold on the fact that Number Ten's father was to blame. Six is the one to break the silence.

"If this were true…" Damien's scold could burn through lead, but Six goes on as if nothing is wrong. "If Number Ten's father did betray the Lorien people, what do they have to do with it? They'd be no younger then John and I had been. You can't honestly be holding them accountable for her parents mistake."

"Her," Damien says. "They had a daughter, Evelyn. Everybody called her Eva. She was about your age, John, when everything happened. If I remember correctly, you two used to play together." He exhaled, long and slow, getting control over his emotions. "Malcolm Goode must have smuggled her aboard his ship when he took off."

"And that was the second ship we all saw," I finish, the pieces of the puzzle finally coming together.

"Why would he do that?" Six asks. "If everyone thought them traitors, why would Malcolm take her with him."

"Who knows? He's a human, they don't think the same as us."

"You mean, they don't believe in fate? Guess I'm more human than Lorien anyway," Six gets to her feet. "You honestly believe that because Evelyn's _father_ did something stupid, she's _fated_ to follow in his footsteps and betray us too?"

"You may not understand this, growing up on earth, but on Lorien, we lived our lives by fate!" Damien steps up to her, and Six quickly matches him. This could get out of hand very quickly.

"We aren't on Lorien, Damien!"

I get to my feet. "Calm down, both of you."

Damien continues on as if I haven't even said anything. "You two have to understand that we _aren't _humans. We are a completely different species."

"No. Screw that, fate doesn't rule us. I choose what I do, and when I do it. Just like John does, and Kayla does, and Ben does, and Evelyn does." Six turns to look at me. "I say we search her out, look for both her and Malcolm Goode." Defiant didn't even come close to Six's attitude at present. It seemed like I was would have to play peacemaker.

I keep myself strategically positioned between Damien and Six. I liked the girl, but she could be a bit of a loose cannon to say the least. "I think we should all just sit back down and talk it over with the others…"

"No," Six turns away, shaking her head. "If you all want to keep sitting around, fine. I'll go off without you. I found John on my own, I can find the others too."

"We're stronger together," I say.

"Stronger? Look at us, John! We're doing nothing, going out into our safe little backyard and pretending to train… We're in a war, and we're the only ones who can fight it. It's not the human's responsibility, Sarah doesn't need to fight," Six bites her lip, cursing herself for letting that slip out.

I don't miss a beat. "What did you say?"

"I just said it's our responsibility to fight, John."

"Has Sarah told you she's afraid of the fight…?"

"Don't get yourself all worked up." She seems to calm down a little, break out of her anger haze. Six takes a long steely breath. "I'm not built to sit around like we are," she says finally, her tone missing the hard edge that usually went along with everything she said. "I can't handle it anymore. I'm not going to force any of you to come with me, but I can't stay put any longer. I need to move. I want to be on my bike, with my computer, doing _something_. And this recon plan you've set out is great, Damien, but it's not for me."

Her words couldn't be any clearer. Six wanted to leave, and she wanted to leave alone.

"You can't go, Six. We're a team."

"I've never been much of a team player, John," she gives me a half-shrug.

"It's dangerous to go off on your own…"

"I survived well enough without any help before," she says.

"Six, we should just stick with the plan…"

She shakes her head, and I know, whether it's through our bond or just the fact that Six is so damn stubborn, that she has made up her mind. "I'm leaving John. I'm going to find Number Ten. And I'm leaving today." She doesn't know what's come over her. Talking to Sarah just kind of pushed her over the edge.

"Six?"

She turns back to Damien, who I hope is about to deliver some awe-inspiring speech about love and trust and the power of true friendship that will convince Six to stay. Instead, he tells her to be careful. "There was another reason Number Ten's family was Elite. Each of them inherited the same legacy, only one."

"Only one legacy?" I'd never heard of that, Henri only ever talked about our people having three.

"What is it?"

"The ability to replicate any legacy they come into contact with," the Cepan replies.

It takes me a while to process what he had just said. Six gets there before me. "You mean any legacy I have, she has?"

"Through skin to skin contact, Evelyn will be able to acquire your legacies immediately, with exactly the same control and power over them… and she will have them indefinitely. Her father had over 8 legacies under his full control. I don't know whether Eva has come into contact with any of the other Loriens on earth… but you can't underestimate her. She is either going to be our strongest ally, or our toughest enemy."

Six exhales a lungful of air, long and slow. "Only one way to find out, right?"

"""""

The plane touches down on the runway with a bump, jolting Evelyn awake from her sleep. "_Ladies and Gentlemen, we've arrived in Athens, Greece, please be careful in opening the overhead lockers…" _the hostess continues her safety speech, before listing the weather temperatures.

Evelyn isn't interested in that. She had made a rough list of things she needed to do while she was here, and enjoying the _'stunning landscapes and beaches'_ was not one of them. The man beside her tries to make small talk while he stares at her breasts, not even seeming to realize he is. Charming. Evelyn is two seconds short of kicking this guy in the groin when the hostess says the doors are now open, and people can start leaving the plane.

"See you later," she mumbles, hoisting her backpack over one shoulder and hightailing it the hell away from him. She gets through customs alright, getting an overly tired middle-aged woman at the desk. "Welcome to Athens, Emma Roberts," she stamps the passport robotically, clearing her through. Malcolm may not have been given the same assets as the other Cepan's had been, but the human made do with what they had, and was very resourceful. Fake ID's, passports, driver's licenses seemed to be no problem for him to find. Evelyn had packed them all away, just in case.

Walking out of customs, she heads to one of the airport computers, bringing up the latest headlines in the local newspaper. The power station came up multiple times, and with each click through the pictures, Evelyn was more sure then ever that this had been some kind of battle. It didn't help that Mogadorians, Loriens and it seems the creatures from their planets, disintegrated to dust after death. A few corpses lying around would have been helpful proof for her.

Another news article catches her attention. It was talking about the rebuilding of an old church that had been vandalized. She clicked the video, a construction worker speaking in a thick Greek accent. "_The destruction is just so horrible, why anybody would want to destroy such a beautiful building confuses me deeply. We will never be able to restore it completely." _The video panned to the old church, completely destroyed inside and out. Same burn marks along the walls. Mogadorian rifle marks. There had been Loriens here, more then one.

This was her chance to find them. She would deal with the consequences afterward. Stepping out into the bright sunshine, she hails a cab over. "Where would you like to go?"

"The first realtor place in Athens you can find," she replies simply.

The cab driver pulls away from the curb, smiling at her in the rear view mirror. "Planning to move to Greece?"

"Seeing which houses are on the market," she says. And finding out which houses had been recently taken off the market. Malcolm made not be a Lorien, but he knew there ways, and had taught her signs to look for if she ever wanted to search them out. She had a feeling deep within her that they were closer then she knew.

"""""

"_This is not a good idea."_

"_You got a better one?"_

"_Yes, you wait it out and continue to stay in hiding."_

"_Forget it! Staying hidden is clearly not working for my kind anymore. And I'm sick of it too! I wasn't sent to Earth to work in your bar and serve tequila shots to drunken senile men, okay?" The guy walks around the small flat, shoving what little clothes he owned deep into his beat-up pack. "I'm not going to wait around here for the Mogadorians to kill me like they're doing the others."_

"_So what? You're going to waltz out into the world and search out the others, with no plan, no starting ground. You really think it is going to be that easy, Alexei?"_

"_Well, sitting here freezing my ass off isn't exactly working for me anymore."_

_The woman stands up and blocks his exit. She's grown older, almost 70 now, her face always done with heavy make-up, and she speaks with a rich husky voice due to years of smoking. Her hair is a deep auburn. He could imagine her being beautiful in youth before harsh realities stole it from her. As far back as he can remember, she's always held a smoking cigarette in between her two fingers. "I promised your protector to take care of you," she states in her heavy Russian accent. "When he lay dying, he made me swear to keep you safe." She puts a hand to his cheek. "I cannot fight your enemies, Alex, but I will do everything I can to keep them from finding you." _

_Alexei turns away, avoiding the woman's gaze. He walks to the small window in her home, looking out. What a life he had led? He wonders if the other members of his race had been like he, with no Cepan to help him develop his powers, or even to explain what was happening, who he was. His protector, David, was killed when Alexei was only 8 years old. He had not learnt of anything to do with Lorien, his destiny, his legacies. All he knew was that he was in danger. It's snowing outside again, the flakes quickly covering anything the previous snow this morning had missed. "David would have wanted me to fight," he says. "He wouldn't want me sitting in here letting our enemies take over. And they will if I don't get out there." He turns to Elena, the woman who had more or less been his mother for the passed 10 years since his Cepan had been killed. "I have to leave Russia. I need to find the others And if I can't find them, then I need to show those Mogadorians that I'm not afraid of them any more." _

"_That road who want to go down is a dangerous one."_

"_I wasn't born into a simple life." He goes to the small closet by the fireplace, and opens it. Inside lies his Cepan's dagger, and Alexei's Loric box. He'd never attempted to open it. When his Cepan had died, Alexei had thrown everything in here and closed it away, like it would somehow erase the pain. He could not hide anymore. Reaching in, he took the dagger into his palm. The metal felt cool against his skin, and the stone of the bottom hummed alight, a faint shade of blue. He straightened up, taking his box and pushing it into his backpack. "I'm not going to hide any longer, Elena. I will find the others." He turns back to his caretaker. "You have done more for me then I could have asked for." _

_She kisses his cheek, and pushes into his hand a small silver chain with a cross on it. "Be safe, my son." _

_Number Eight walks out into the snow._

_**AN: Please review and let me all know what you think, whether I should keep going with the story or cut it loose. **_

_**Also, anyone who thinks Six is being a bit of a OC, halfway through writing this chapter, I rewatched that scene from the movie where she's searching through Henri and John's old beach house, right before she blows the crap out of it. **_

_**I'm thinking she's showing a bit more of that side of her personality now. She is one of my favorite characters just because she is so diverse and mysterious and badassness (is that a word?) **_

_**I kind of wanted to keep her that way, independent and strong willed. **_

_**Anyway, thanks to all the readers! You guys ROCK!**_


	23. Chapter 23

_**Authors Note:**_

_**So, my long enduring hiatus has come to an end. Thanks to all the reviews I received during that time.**_

_**Since my last update, the next official book in the series has been released, 'The Power Of Six'**_

_**I've skim-read it, and realize that it kind of makes my story really non-canon now, especially with the OC's like Damien, Ben and Kayla, but I'm going to continue with mine. Thanks heaps for reading and reviewing, and also for all your ideas of what you would like to happen. **_

Finding a Ducati in Athens was a lot easier then Six had first thought it would be. She sought out a middle-aged guy online selling his motorbike online for cash to pay for his third divorce. The blood red bike had Six's name written all over it. It was an older model of her other bike, but it was in good enough condition.

She was getting a little excited over the prospect to get back out into the world alone again. As she drove the motorbike back to their house, the whirr of the engine in her ears and the wine blowing her hair out, the feeling of freedom came back. It was like being stuck in a box and not realizing you were until the lid was open.

She wouldn't mind so much being in a team if they were actually doing something, like they had when they attacked the power station. But Damien made it clear what course of action he wanted to take, and she would be damned if she sat around and did it. Katerina had always said she was difficult. Nothing wrong with a bit of difficulty, Six shrugged. Kept you on your toes and made life a hell of a lot more interesting.

She wasn't too sure on the game plan yet. Finding Eight and Ten was about as far as she had gotten with her planning so far. Why couldn't the others see that splitting up was the most logical thing to do? They could cover at least four times the amount of ground this way, and the quicker they found the others, the quicker this war could start. The quicker she could start fighting again.

Number Ten… Evelyn. This girl intrigued Six the most. She had let herself wonder if Damien was right, and Evelyn was out to destroy them. The only thought that came to Six was that that would be one hell of a fight if it came down to it. Battling an opponent equally matched in powers and abilities.

And if Six was right, and Evelyn turned out to be an ally, how powerful would she be? With Six's invisibility and elemental manipulation, John's Lumen, Kayla's illusions and Ben's strength… hell, Evelyn could be a one-woman army!

"Why are you doing this?" Ah, yes, of course John wouldn't let her leave without getting another word in. She turns to face him, rolling her eyes as she does. She leans back on the bike, resting on her elbows and sliding her aviators onto her head.

"I told you, I'm sick of sitting around."

"We are going to move, Six. But we have to plan, we can't just rush into battle headfirst…"

Six huffs, shaking her head. "Do you know me at all, John? Rushing headfirst into battle is _exactly_ what I do, and it's worked out pretty good for me so far."

"We're a team now. You can't just…go off whenever you want."

"You don't need to worry about me, Four. You know I can handle myself."

"We were meant to find each other, and stay together. We aren't supposed to, to split up and breakaway."

"I promise nothing bad will happen to me. We can't be a team if we want different things. You heard Damien, he wants to around scouting out Mogs, and retreating…"

"To plan."

"Once this war starts, we have to be ready. We need all the assets we can get."

"So you're going to find Number Eight?"

"And Ten," she stands straight, shifting her glasses to the top of her head. "Legacy mimicry, I mean, are you freakin' kidding me? Think about what as asset she would be in a battle, John."

"Or a liability."

"Oh, don't turn all Damien on me now. I know you don't believe in this fate crap."

I clench my jaw to keep my frustration down. "What if you're wrong about her?"

"What if I'm right?" She gives a shrug. "That's just it. What if, what if, what if. I'm sick of what's if's, John. I've always been more of a 'why not' girl." She pulls of her cut off leather gloves, her hands slipping into the worn material. "You have to stop worrying about me."

I think back to our last argument, with Damien. "You said something last night… about Sarah not needing to fight. What did you mean?" I ask her, folding my arms over one another.

"Nothing."

"You're a bad liar, Six. At least to me, anyway."

"It's nothing, John."

"If you're going off, leaving all of us behind, at least tell me. You owe me that much."

Six sighs, rolling her eyes. "Sarah is pretty much scared to hell."

"What?" I demand at her.

"Think about it, John," Six holds out a hand and starts counting things off. "She's 18 years old, from what I hear, that's a generally pretty shitty time for your regular human being anyway. She's a human who fell in love with an alien, and that is enough for some serious therapy. Add the fact said alien is in the middle of a war on a global scale, fighting an enemy hell-bent of taking over Earth, hell, I'm surprised the girl hasn't had a break down yet."

"Did she talk to you?" I ask curiously. Trying to imagine Six and Sarah having a conversation was on par with Sam lifting a pickup truck one-handed.

Six nods her head. "How backward is that, huh? Sarah coming to _me_ to talk. You're not doing your job, Johnny Boy." I look back to house, and see Sarah sitting in the lounge playing cards through the glass window. She did look a little different. She was still beautiful, of course, but her skin wasn't as bright, her hair less shiny. She just looked tired, worn out. How the hell hadn't I noticed this before? "Don't look so worried, Four. She's fine. She just needs her boyfriend, that's all."

"God, I'm an idiot," I mumble, running a hand through my hair.

"Well, you are, but can't really blame you for that." Six looked up at my hair with a frown. "You have abnormally fast growing hair, you know that?"

"Yeah, guess I have more legacies then you."

She gives me a sarcastic smile, lightening the mood. "I've gotta pack, figure out my next move. I probably won't be leaving to late afternoon. I'll cut it before I go."

"Yeah. Me and Sam both," I say, catching sight of Sam's shaggy hair as he walks into the kitchen.

Six follows Sam as he moves around the lounge. "Yeah… you and Sam both," she adds to herself in a quieter voice.

"Have you got any…" Sam peeps over his cards, looking at his opponents in the eyes, before continuing, "Fives?"

"Go Fish," Kayla smiles as Sam angrily picks up another card.

"Remind me again why we are playing this game?" Ben asks in a monotone. His voice is muffled due to the fact he is face down on the table, forehead resting on his cards.

"Because any other card game we play with Kayla, we lose," Sarah explains in an even tone. "Poker, Blackjack, Speed, Last Card… and apparently Go Fish as well," she looks at Kayla's 3 card hand.

"Okay, you can't honestly think she's winning this due to skill," Sam complains. "This is like, complete chance!"

Kayla interrupts. "Sam, do you have any Eights?"

"What? You have got to be kidding me," he tosses the card over, shaking his head. "If you're mind-warping me with illusions right now, I will seriously hurt you… or at least say some very stern things."

"I'm not playing with your head, Sam."

Ben lifts his head, focusing his eyes to Kayla. "Can you do it to me?"

"What?"

"Use your legacy, give me an illusion."

"Why would you want me to do that?" Kayla asks, gathering up the cards and shuffling them quickly.

"I just want to know what it feels like," Ben gives a shrug.

"Are you sure?"

He nods. "What's the worst that could…" his words stop as the glass window in the kitchen shatters in a million pieces. Across from him, Sarah screams, a shrill high-pitched sound that hurts his ears. The door opens, and there stands a Mogadorian, gun raised.

Ben has no time to think. He leaps to his feet.

"Ben!"

He turns back to the table, and sees Sarah and Sam staring at him, perplexed. "What the…" The kitchen windows in tact, and just to be sure, he walks over and opens the front door, revealing nothing on the other side.

"So…" He looks over to Kayla, who has an eyebrow raised. "What did it feel like?"

"Why the crap did you make me see Mogs, I almost peed my pants, which would have been really embarrassing," he jokes, taking a seat. "You couldn't have just illusioned me into thinking Jessica Alba had decided to pay me a visit, huh?"

"Eww, gross, that's disgusting. My legacy is not so you can live out your fantasies, Ben," she says back.

"What was it like?" Sarah asks.

"Yes, I am curious," Sam fixes Kayla a stare. "Not curious enough to try, though," he adds.

"It feels like reality. I didn't even think twice about the fact that it might be an illusion considering I just _asked_ you to give me one. What's it like for you?" He laughs a little. "Is it just me or did that question come across vaguely sexual?"

"It's just you," Kayla and Sarah reply in unison, before the brunette continues on. "I just imagine what I want the other person to see, and _make _them see it. I can't explain it much better then that."

"You've got a pretty vivid imagination on you, I'll give you that."

"Not vivid enough for a late night visit from Jessica Alba though, don't get any ideas."

"Oh come on!" Ben whines.

The front door opens, and Six walks in, bringing with her an uncomfortable awkward silence that Kayla can't stand for another second. "I don't have a problem with you leaving, Six," she says quickly. "If you think it's what you need to do."

"Thanks…" Six looks at Sam but he doesn't glance up from the table, which was a first. She had gotten used to catching him staring since the moment they had met. She honestly didn't think that she would miss that, but she kind of did. "Sam, can I talk to you a sec?"

He nods his head, but doesn't look at her, instead getting up and moving to the room he shared with Ben. Six follows him and shut the door behind her. The three left at the table watch them silently, before Ben claps his hands together. "Well, they seem like a chipper little couple, don't they?"

"Can you ever _not_ be sarcastic?"

"Nope," he replies immediately. "Hey, Damien raised me, you're lucky all I got was sarcasm!"

John walks into the room and motions for Sarah to follow him, which she does. The two disappear down the hall, leaving just Ben and Kayla left. For a while, the only sound is the abnormally loud clock in the living room.

"So…" he clasps his hands together in front of him. "So, Six and Sam are sort of together, and John and Sarah are probably hooking up as we speak, do you think there is any chance of you and I getting together?"

"Not if you ask like that." Kayla says right back. "You truly have no idea what to do when it comes to girls, do you, Five."

"Once again, raised by Damien. If it wasn't for SexEd class, I'd still think the only difference between men and woman were boobs."

"It's odd, because you're so…" she pauses, motioning to him and hoping that he wouldn't press the matter. She was sadly mistaken.

"So?" he prompted.

"You know," she bites her bottom lip, sucking in air. "Are you really going to make me say it?"

"Come on, give me a little confidence boost."

"Alright. It's surprising you're so absolutely naïve when it comes to girls, considering you're so good looking," she finished all in one breath.

Ben slaps a hand over his mouth in mock shock. "Kayla, are you _blushing_?"

"Don't be a douche," she says.

He laughs, shaking his head. "I guess girls thought I was weird. They generally kept their distance."

"That's because you are a weirdo."

"Weirdo, alien. Pretty much all the same thing, right?" He gathered up the cards and shuffled them. "Rematch?"

"Absolutely."

"""""

As soon as the door is shut behind Sam and Six, he rounds on her, fists clenched tight to his sides. "What is it, Six?" he demands.

His tone takes her aback for a second. She had never seen or heard Sam be so angry before. It didn't suit him, the darkness the crept through his usually warm brown eyes. Six didn't like it one bit. "I just wanted to talk to you, clear the air between us," she said.

"Right, okay? Clear the air," Sam exhales a lungful of air in one long breath. "I liked you, you kissed me, you left, you came back, ignored me, kissed me, insulted me, kissed me, ignored me again. And now you're leaving, so guess the air's all clear now, great chat, thanks Six." He knows he's being a dick but Sam couldn't really care less at the moment. He was tired and angry of being the comic relief of the group, never really being taken seriously, of speaking but never really being heard. And he was as pissed as _hell_ that Six was going.

For her part, Six didn't really say anything back, just clasped her hands before her. Of all the things she had done, (and trust her, she'd done some pretty wild things), why was it that _this_ was so damn difficult? She took a shaky breath, fixed her eyes to Sam's, and said the one thing she had never ever said to anybody before.

"I'm sorry." Six bit her bottom lip slightly, walking passed Sam to the window and looking out. It was better for her to look out this way then to see his face right now. "I don't know what's wrong with me, alright? I've treated you horribly and you deserve so much better Sam. You deserve the best, and I don't even come close to that. It's just that _this_," she gestures at herself with a sharp wave of her hand, "this is me, alright? I'm not a nice person, I'm selfish, and stubborn, and angry, 90 percent of the time I'm living on impulse. And you're not." She turns to him. "I think we were kidding ourselves from the beginning thinking that we could ever be together."

"Yeah, well, maybe..." he stops mid sentence after realizing just what exactly he was about to say. He was angry at her sure, but he didn't want to break up, not be with her. God, why did he have to fall for the most schizophrenic emotional person in this world or the next? "If you don't want to do.. whatever it is we are doing anymore, that's fine, Six. But why do you have to leave?"

She shrugs. "Everyone keeps asking me that question and no matter what answer I give, it's never good enough. So just put it down to the fact that I'm crazy."

"You are crazy. You're the one who's always going on about this war we are in, how we are battling for earth, and you think it's good that we split up?"

"No. I don't think it's good you guys split up. Just me. I work better by myself, I can focus better..." she sighs, taking a breath of confidence she seemed to need whenever she talked about anything remotely emotional. "When we fight together, I worry about you, all of you, and I lose focus. Like when the Seer attacked John, I saw it happening, and I wanted so badly to help him, to rip that Mogadorians arms right off. And the Mogs hit me, knocked the wind out of my body. You lose your focus when you're fighting for a second and it's all over. If I am alone, the only one I need to worry about is me."

"Looking out for Number One huh?"

"I never said I was perfect."

They fall into silence for a long moment, until Sam stretches his arms out before him. "Well, where does that leave us?"

"That's the million dollar question, isn't it?" She bites her bottom lip, a habit he's noticed she does whenever she's nervous or uncomfortable. "What do you want?"

"I want you to stay," he replies without missing a beat. "But I know that's not going to happen. So I'll take second best, and just say that I'm in love with you. I'm not going to stand here and give some really eloquent speech, since I gave you all of my best material back in Canada. But I love you and that's not going to change because you're going off on some solo mission."

She doesn't say it back, he hasn't expected her to. Instead, she steps forward and kisses him, an almost desperate embrace. His hands grip the edge of her shirt as hers pull on his hair in that almost painful pleasurable way. "Why do you have to be so annoying?" she asks him as they break for air.

"It is my specialty," he says, dropping a kiss on her forehead and hugging her close. "Don't drop off the radar, okay? I want a letter everyday from you, that my evil stepmother can hide from me, so that I can find them all later."

"I think that's supposed to be my role." Six buries her face into his neck, glad that the door is closed. She'd die if anyone else saw her in such a...vulnerable state, ugh, she even hated the word. "Don't die," her words muffled against his skin.

"I'll try my best."

"""""

"Did you talk to Six?" I nod my head. "Did you convince her to stay?" I shake my head. "I'm sorry, John."

Hearing Sarah speaking somehow eases the feelings of anger and worry that had been constantly churning in my gut since Six made her decision. It had been like that for a while now, whenever something was troubling me, something that seemed so huge that I couldn't deal, Sarah could smile at me, or take my hand in hers, and slowly bring me back to earth, in a way.

I look up at her, framed in the wooden doorway and lit by the setting sun. She was the reason why I believed in Fate. So many little coincidences had led up to our meetings. Why had Henri chosen Paradise, Ohio, of all the places, to go and stay. How had it been that at the same time I went to the admissions office, Sarah had been in the Principles office? And the photo shop too? If Mark hadn't been there, attacking me at the carnival, would we have grown so close, would we have even kissed that night?

I get to my feet slowly, and purposely step towards her, reaching up and brushing back her hair with my finger. I hear her breath shudder, and I can't help but grin like an idiot. I understood why she had that effect over me, she was gorgeous and kind and beautiful in every single way a girl could be, but I will never get used to the fact I could make _her_ skin tingle like soft brushes of electricity coursed from my fingertips. "We haven't really spent a lot of time together since you've been here," I say quietly.

"We spend everyday together," she whispers back slyly.

"Not really. It's never just been you and me. I'm sorry, Sarah…" I take her hand, tugging her away from the door enough to slip it shut. "Six told me what you had said to her, how you feel about the Mogadorians, being on the run."

"She did?"

"It took a little coaxing… well, a lot of coaxing actually," I turn to her, taking hold of her arms and nudging her gently back to the bed. "She wasn't too keen on spilling though. A few months ago and she wouldn't have thought twice about betraying your trust. I think you're growing on her."

We hit the end of the bed at the same time and fall to our sides, facing one another. I prop my head on my arm, and Sarah mimics my move. "I can handle the Mogadorians, John."

"Yeah, well, we are all afraid of the Mogs. Even Six is, deep deep down inside. They are pretty gruesome creatures. But I won't let them hurt you, alright?"

"I'm not scared about that John. I don't care about myself at all, I worry about _you_. That's what it means to be in love, I guess. You start caring about the person you love more then yourself." She leans in and presses a soft kiss to my lips, one that I reciprocate quickly. I knew how damn lucky I was with her in front of me. So many relationships ended badly, unrequited love and all that. I don't think I would have been able to handle loving Sarah and having to watch her with someone else, like Mark. She moans slightly as our lips press to one another again. "We should stop..."

"Why?" I grin wickedly.

"Because it's the middle of the day and the house is full and anybody could just waltz right in, it's hardly the most romantic setting, John."

"I don't care," I say, closing the small gap she'd made and pulling her flush against me. My hand traced the curve of her body, starting under her arm, running along her ribcage and down to her hip. I could never get enough of this, of her. Even though Sarah had made a very valid point, I find myself slipping her tee shirt over her head and tossing it to the side. We join together wordlessly, our hands and lips moving in sync.

Naturally, that's when my bedroom door opens with a wall-shattering bang, and I sit up, reaching for my dagger. My hand pauses as I see Ben. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Sorry to disturb you," he says quickly, holding out a hand to block Sarah from view. "But you guys _really_ have to see this." As Ben tears down the hallway, I hold out a hand, and Sarah's tee shirt that I had just removed a minute ago sails into my palm. I hand it over to her with a sheepish. "Rain check?"

"Maybe," she tells me, pulling it on and heading away. Fighting of disappointment, I follow her down the hall. I can hear a female newscaster talking, and when I get into the lounge, I see everyone crowded around the small television. Sam was right up close to the screen, holding the antenna's up with two hands trying to get a better signal. "_Eyewitnesses said this group is very dangerous, and if they are seen, do not approach them. Instead, call this number_," a phone number scrolled along the bottom of the screen. "_Once again, do not approach these people, they are regarded as highly dangerous." _My face popped up on screen.

"What the hell?"

"Wait, it gets better," Ben motions to the television screen where a photo of himself, Damien, Sam and Kayla quickly follows my own. They were all taken a while ago, I couldn't have been older then 15.

Sam mumbles, "This is bad..."

"You think?" Damien stretches his hands behind his neck to try and get the kinks out. His muscles didn't seem to be able to relax anymore, and this wasn't exactly going to help him either.

"How the hell had they gotten photo's of us?" I'm thinking aloud, although the answer was pretty clear. We had slipped up, somewhere along the way, each of us had. Except for Six. Sarah's photo hadn't come up either, to my utter relief.

The newscaster finishes the story, and Sam drops the aerials slowly, the screen fading into static. "It has to be the Mogs," Six moves into the center of the semi-circle we had all made, waving her hand in front of the television. The screen went black. "They saw who we were, back at the power station. It also explains why your photo hadn't come up, Sarah."

"And then the Mogadorians decided to call up the FBI. Hey, we're aliens from another planet here to take over yours, can you track these people down please?" Ben says in his ever-present sarcastic tone.

"Well, what's your idea, genius?" Six says right back.

"Alright, alright," I wave them quiet before things got out of control. "It doesn't really matter how they turned us in, or even what we're accused of.."

"Breaking and Entering, Theft and Murder," Sam fills me in in a mumbled tone.

"Murder?"

"Uh huh, they even showed photos, pretty grisly."

Kayla gives an empty laugh, "I guess the Mogs had a little bit of fun with the humans and decided to pin it on us. Either that or one of their beloved pets got out of its cage. I can't believe they hadn't thought of it sooner."

Ben shrugs, "Basically we're all screwed. There is no freakin' way any of us will be allowed on a plane now. Border's are out, we're runaways now, outcasts. We are living outside the law.." He pauses, grinning. "This is actually sounding kinda fun." Kayla punches him on the arm.

Damien looks down, lines of concentration etched deep in his features. "We have to get out of Greece, I've got a safe house in Bordeaux."

"France? That's very James Bond of you," Sam shakes his head a little. "Sorry, I get sarcastic when I'm nervous."

"You get sarcastic when you breathe," Six says.

"We have to get on the road, get moving." Damien turns to her. "I want you to know, you were right."

"Huh?"

"What?"

"Are you crazy?"

Everybody in the lounge except for Six react to Damien's comment. I take a step towards him. "Splitting up, Damien? You can't think that's a good idea."

"It is. Strategically anyway. I wasn't thinking about strategy before, I was thinking about protection. I'm a Cepan, protecting you guys is inbuilt in me. I didn't want to you to split up because I wouldn't be able to watch over you. I wasn't accepting the fact that this war has begun, and eventually I have to let you fight it. Six understands that..." Damien runs a hand through his hair, and I notice for the first time just how tired he looks. "It's not just the Mogadorians out for our blood now, Four, the humans are too. If we want to stay hidden, we need to split apart. I don't like it but we don't have a choice. It's far easier to remain illusive in small groups."

I reach out and find Sarah's hand, twining my fingers through hers, knowing exactly where this conversation was heading.

"So, I think we split, go our separate ways, and make our own way to France, to the safe house. We stay as out of sight as possible, thankfully the photo's they have of us are old, we all look different. From afar, people may not recognize us."

"I'm taking Sarah with me," I say, although I doubt that the others hadn't already guessed that.

"So what? We go to France, tails between our legs, hide like criminals?" Why Six had to be so difficult all the time was beyond me. I guess it's just what made her her. "Screw that. I'm going after the Mogs."

"Six, come on..."

"If they think they can just wander on in and make _us _the criminals, they have got another think coming."

"I'm with Six," Ben puts in. When Damien goes to protest, Five continues on. "Look, we know Eight and Ten are out there. If we all just hole up in France, we aren't going to be doing our kind, or humankind any favors. So you guys find your way to Bordeaux, and Six and I will keep searching for the others." He looks around the room slowly. "We fight good together, Six and I. We'll keep each other safe. Damien, you take Kayla and Sam with you, with Nine's illusion legacy, you'll make it to the safe house, no worries. And it'll take a nuclear explosion to separate John and Sarah."

I'm surprised to see Ben take charge as he is, being so used to the joking wise cracking guy. He seemed different now, his face had a harder edge to it than normal. I can tell the others see it too.

"If the Mogs want a fight, they'll get one."

As if on cue, Bernie, who had been tucked up by the door quietly, leapt to his feet, barking wildly.

Damien pulls out his dagger from the concealed sheath, the blue stone humming to life. "Hold on," Six steps forward. "I'll go."

She heads to the door, and turns to see Ben following her. Opening it, the two head down the stairs and move around the side of the house until the drive is in view. There is a woman standing at the end of the drive, a hand over her eyes to block out the midday sun. Being in war had Ben on edge, though, and he braced himself just in case she pulled a gun and started shooting. Six was standing forward, hands at her sides like she was facing a Mogadorian Commander. Needless to say, they weren't the most social bunch of people around.

The woman walks up the gravel drive without hesitation. She is pretty, in a quirky, unique kind of way, with pale skin and hair as dark as night, pulled back in a loose ponytail. She also has large blue eyes, the most distinctive feature on her face.

When she finally reaches them, Six makes no effort to make conversation, but Ben had kind of been expecting that. "Can I help you?" he asks her.

"That depends," she replies, in a cheerful voice. "I'm looking for someone."

"Who?" Six demands, eyes hidden behind her reflective glasses.

"An old friend," the woman replies, looking past them to the house. She shields the sun from her eyes once more with a hand above her brow, and Ben catches sight of a faded pale white scar above her eyebrow.

"How old?" he asks curiously.

She looks at him, a smile playing on her lips. "Very. I've been searching for him for, oh, around fourteen years and 19 days now."

Fourteen years… "That's a pretty long time." A pretty, long, specific amount of time.

"You have no idea."

"What's you're name?" Six asks finally, sliding her sunglasses to the top of her head once more.

The answer to that question comes from behind them. Damien pushes Ben as he makes his way towards the woman, making him stumble a little where he stood. "Emily?"

"Hello, Damien."

_**Anyone who doesn't know who Emily is, just reread the through the last few chapters. **_

_**Anyhow, if you haven't read the Power Of Six, stop reading this AN, because it has SPOILERS! in it.**_

_**First, I may get flamed for saying this but I hated what they did with Sarah, making her a traitor. It kind of made the whole first book romance void. Plus, I like Dianna Agron and now she won't be in the next movie! Grr**_

_**Along the same lines, I'm not a big fan of the John/Six pairing, since I wrote them in my fanfic as more of a sibling relationship, which has made it kind of creepy now, haha. **_

_**I cracked up when I read about the Number Ten, what were the chances of that happening? But my Number Ten is completely different from theirs, so I'll keep Evelyn as she is. **_

_**What did you guys think of the new book? Let me know.**_


	24. Chapter 24

**AN : Hello, all. Sorry for the massive break in the story. Cut a long story short, I lost interest in this story due to the fact I had no idea where I wanted to take it or what I wanted to happen. **

**Besides that, my whole writing style has changed recently and it was hard coming back to this way. **

**I've tried completing this to the end before I started putting chapters up to avoid massive breaks like before. **

Emily was a Cepan, and, as it turns out, is like a breath of fresh air to us. Maybe its because our situation had suddenly turned so dire, with the less-than-flattering news story on us, and things seemed to be too overwhelming with just our small group, but this woman had brought a smile to all our faces, even Six's. I guess for us, Cepans just seemed to put things into perspective, like a child feels when they're lost and their parent finds them in a crowd.

She had been assigned to Number 2, a young girl named Aria, or Chloe, as was her last identity. She had only been 11 when the Mogs located and killed her. Emily had been separated from her fighting off them off. By the time she'd destroyed them, all that was left of her charge was her necklace. Emily wore it around her own neck now, and she had clutched it tight as she retold the story.

She'd been searching out the others ever since. "Once I saw the news article on the church, I knew you guys had to be close," she explains to us as we crowd around the small kitchen table. "I was in New York at the time, and caught the red eye over here straight afterward."

Damien frowns, his grip tightening on the edge of the table. "New York? The news travelled all the way there?"

"Well, you _did_ all destroy a Greek monument. What did you expect?" Emily asks back with a smile.

"Hey, the Mogs destroyed it," Ben mumbles defensively. "We were just, well, there."

"When I saw your photo's on the television, I could hardly believe my luck..." she cringes as she sees our tired faces, "well, it was lucky for me anyway. I recognized Damien, and Ben, though you've grown since the last time I saw you." Her eyes go to the rest of us, curiously landing on mine. "The rest of you, I'm not so familiar."

"I'm Number Four, uh, John," I hold out my hand and shake her own. They are surprisingly rough. "My Cepan was Henri,"

"Brandon," Damien corrects.

"Yeah.." I clear my throat, and continue on in a rush "he died, almost two years ago now," I still find it hard to believe it had been as long as that. It still felt like yesterday when he'd been grilling me on training. A flash of sadness darkens Emily's eyes for a moment, and I forget that she would have been friends with my protector, like I am with Sam or Six.

"And you?"

My girlfriend clears her throat a little self-consciously, "I'm Sarah Hart. I'm not a number or anything, just a friend."

"An ally," Six adds in a quiet voice.

"Sam," he holds out a hand. "Also not a number, just an enthusiast," he jokes. "Also I blabber and generally most of what I say is sarcastic so..."

"Pleasure to meet you, Sam," Emily cuts in gently with a laugh. "You must be Nine," she says lastly to Kayla, who nods her head once.

"How did you know?"

"I remember you," Emily replies easily, "You're Cepan was Allison. She was a very good friend of mine back home. I was actually with her the day she went and picked you up back on Lorien. She was so proud of you, even then." She sat back in her chair, folding her arms over one another. "So, we're it, huh? The beginning of the resistance," she smiles over to Damien. "God, I've been thinking of nothing but this day for the past decade." Her wide blue eyes blaze with excitement. "So, what's the plan? Now that most of you are wanted felons, things are going to get a lot more interesting."

"We're going to split up," Six says in a low tone that left no room for debate. Frankly, I'd grown tired of fighting with Six. I had never been someone who agrees just for the sake of quelling an argument, but Six was a formidable opponent in an argument, and she'd worn me out.

"That is a brilliant idea," Emily agrees, much to my surprise. "A group of two is a lot less suspicious than a group of eight. But before we do, I think we should discuss the Mogadorian situation."

Sam frowns, "The Mogadorian Situation? Other than a killer title for an 'Alfred Hitchcock' movie, what do you mean?"

"Well, you all have run into the Mogs on multiple occasions, right? What have you learnt? I've been tracking the few I could find, and I'm fairly certain they've got a Ryion."

"They do," came the monotone reply from both Ben and Kayla.

"You've seen it?"

"We killed it," Ben says.

Emily looked impressed. "They were keeping this one in Switzerland, I've got a safe house out there. The Mogs have got a whole settlement there, three huge warehouses, tight security. I've seen it a couple of times when I was scouting, it's a few hours or so out of Zurich, a pretty remote area. They're definitely keeping something there. Something big."

"They have a Seer, Em," Damien avoids her eyes when he talks.

"Are you sure?"

"I am," I force my mind away from the memories. "It searched my mind for a minute before it escaped."

"God.. that must have been horrible for you."

"Yeah, well, that's one way of describing it," I mumble. It grows silent at the table for a while, before the new woman, who I was starting to like more and more, got to her feet.

"So, we split up and search out Number Eight."

Six adds, "And Ten."

"Ten?" Emily pauses, biting her bottom lip before giving a shrug. "If that's what you think you want to do."

"What?!" Damien leaps to his feet. "Just like that, you're not going to try and convince them that Evelyn comes from the most traitorous family from Lorien, that if she turns out even a tiny bit evil as her father, this war will be over without the Mogs help at all."

"Geez," Emily smiles and holds out her hands in surrender under Damien's glare. "When did you turn all Commander and Chief, Damien? You were never this uptight back on Lorien, even after the war started.." I stifle a grin and find the others holding back smiles too as Emily teased the Cepan. "In any case, it's not our decision to make. We protect. We're not to influence their decision in anyway, or have you forgotten the Cepan manual?" she jokes. "If you've told them the history, the risks, and they still want to find her, go for it. To be honest, the way we are going, we need all the help we can get."

And just like that, Emily had endeared herself to everybody in the room.

"""""

Six spins the dagger in her hand around in easy circles as she walks out onto the lawn. She stretches out her neck and bounces from toe to toe like a boxer about to enter the ring.

"It's good that Emily is on our side about this fight," Sarah, her opponent says, a dagger in each hand. She spins each into position, holding one above her head and one out before her.

Six nods. It was funny how of all the people they were traveling with it was Sarah who agreed with her. Not John, not Sam, but Sarah. Over the weeks of travel, Six's view of the girl had completely changed from an over-emotional love-sick cheerleader to a strong willed girl who would stand up to anyone, and who wouldn't hold back an opinion even if it would upset someone she loved. "What do you think about Number Ten?"

Sarah steps forward, bringing her dagger down hard where Six's head would have been had she not dodged a moment before. Sarah spun to the right, turning back to face Six just in time to duck a high kick the Lorien had sent her way. "To be honest, I have no idea," Sarah swept a leg low, which Six hopped over. "I hope that you're right about her.."

"So do I," she replies honestly, dropping a shoulder low and charging at Sarah. The two girls drop onto the grass with a thump, but before Six could swing her knife down, Sarah got her legs beneath her and kicked her off with surprising force. She landed on her back with a thud, looking up at Sarah.

"Nice kick," she puffs out breathlessly.

"I learnt from the best," Sarah holds out her hand, helping Six back up to her feet. "I'm going to miss our training sessions when we all split up."

"You'll be alright. You know enough to kick the ass of any Mog I've come across. Besides that, I doubt Four will let you within 1000 feet of any danger zone, human or alien."

Sarah laughs. "Where will you and Ben go?"

"I don't know. But I do know that things are going to be very different from now on."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if I see a Mog, you can bet your ass that I'm not going to run. Again," she steps into position, and this time takes the first step in the attack. She swings her dagger down, which Sarah deflects easily. Six flings out her hand, and Sarah goes flying backwards as a telekinetic wave hit her in the chest, throwing her to the dirt.

The wind knocks out of her lungs and her elbows scrape along the ground. Sarah props herself up. "You cheated," she wheezes out.

"The only thing you can count the Mogs on is fighting dirty," Six helped Sarah to her fight. "Another round?"

"""""

I have packed so many times in my life that I can pretty much do it on autopilot now. My brain mindlessly runs the checks through, rations, radio, clothes, GPS, cash. I can't believe how quickly things have changed. A moment ago, I could wander down the road, buy food from a vendor, and stand in a crowd. Now I was a wanted man, charged with murder. I was a murderer.

In a sad way, I guess it wasn't far from the truth. I have killed. I have killed dozens and dozens of times. I've been covered head to toe in the ash of a Mogadorian soldier after I stabbed a dagger through its chest right to the hilt and twisted, and I have done it without remorse. Did that make me a bad person? Did that make me a murderer?

"Whatever you're thinking about, stop."

"Huh?" Sarah's voice crashes my thoughts away, and I turn to look at her. She's standing by the doorway, arms folded.

"You're face... you look upset, so whatever it was you were thinking about, stop it," she says simply.

"Sorry," I mumble as I close up my backpack. "Are you all packed? Damien wants us out and moving by tonight."

"Yeah, I'm done, I don't have much." She brushes passed me and carries her bag to the corner. "Do you have any idea of how we are going to get to Zurich?"

I nod my head, pulling out my journal and opening it up. "I mapped out all the train routes we can take, and Emily has a few cars stored along the way just in case. It'll be good for us to switch it up just in case we raise suspicion. I was even thinking we could backpack for a bit as well."

Sarah looks the map over. "Is this what you were doing last night?" she asks in a soft voice. "You didn't come to bed."

"Yeah, I know," I pinch the bridge of my nose, hoping to ease the headache that was slowly forming. "I'll sleep when I'm dead."

"Is that supposed to be funny?"

"I guess it isn't when death is a very real possibility, huh?"

Sarah grips my arms, turning me towards her. "What's the matter, John? Talk to me."

"It's nothing."

"Do you really think I'm going to believe that? You've been a completely different person since Six said she wanted to split up. Ben's been calling you the 'Mute'."

"Ben needs to watch his mouth."

"See, that's what I'm talking about. The John I knew would have laughed at that; the John two _weeks_ ago would have laughed."

"I'm sorry if this war has quelled my happy-go-lucky attitude and ability to laugh at Ben's lame jokes, Sarah." I move away from her to sit on the end of the bed. My head was starting to really ache now, like a drill piercing me in the temple. But one that was revolving so slow it was cracking through my skull, layer by agonizing layer. It felt like the Seer was in my head all over again.

For the first time, Sarah's worry and concern over me made me frustrated, not at ease. I could feel her eyes on me even thought mine were shut. "Can you just, like, stop looking at me like a crippled puppy for one minute?"

To her credit, Sarah matched my snarkiness step for step. "What do you want me to do? Just leave you here, fuming and in pain?"

"Yes."

"Well screw that, John." She walks over to me and drops into a crouch, her elbows on my knees. "I'm not going to do that, I'm not going to leave you. Because I love you." Her hands take hold of my head and she kisses me. I look down at her face, her eyes and her lips which a curved at the corners in an almost cheeky smile. "So make this easy for yourself and tell me what the matter is."

I don't think I'd ever loved Sarah more then that moment.

With a laborious sigh, I let all my emotions come pouring out. "I don't want to split up. It goes against everything Henri taught me." She nods along, her hand running through the hair on the back of my head. "I understand why Six is pushing for it, but…"

"I know," she says quietly.

"And I've had this headache for the past few days that won't go away."

"Have you had pain killers?"

I nod my head. "It feels like when the Seer was in my mind. The drilling pain and heaviness, like I'm drugged or something." Sarah's eyes cloud over in thought. "What?" I ask after a while.

"Have you ever thought your headache might be connected to the Seer somehow."

"An alien-related headache?"

Sarah shrugs, "Odder things have happened, John," she runs a finger along the collar of my shirt. "Need I remind you of our first attempt at sex..."

"No, no, believe me, that is one memory I won't ever forget," I tell her. I sigh, why couldn't it have just been performance issues when it came to that? I think helplessly. Sometimes I just longed for a normal teenage problem.

"I think you should ask Damien or Emily about it."

"Don't you think they would have told me if the Seer leaves any side effects?"

"Not necessarily. If you're not complaining about side effects, why would they tell you about them and worry you. It couldn't hurt."

As it turns out, Sarah was right about the headache. Although there wasn't a lot known about Seer's, the few Lorien that had survived an episode with them often complained about head injuries long after the attack. For once, I'd been given a lucky break. There wasn't going to be any alien bursting out of my chest; it was just a headache.

"A Seer attack is akin to being smashed in the brain by a metaphorical hammer, of sorts," Emily explains. "Your brain suffered trauma, it will take a while to heal."

"Trauma," I mumble. That was one way of putting it.

Ben and Six were packed already and saying their goodbyes. They weren't going far, instead, they were heading back to Athens, back to the church we had destroyed in case any Loriens came looking. If there was no one, things were going to get a lot more interesting.

It had been Sarah's idea in the end.

Instead of hiding out, searching out the others while remaining hidden, she proposed leaving very obvious signs for the Loriens to find. Loric symbols burnt into buildings, inscriptions on landmarks.

"It will get other's peoples attention as well," Damien reminds gently.

Ben shrugs, "So what? Sooner or later humans are going to realize they're not alone on this planet. Hopefully they _also_ realize that we're the good aliens who aren't trying to rape the world of its resources."

"Don't say rape," Six and Kayla deadpan in unison.

Everyone says their goodbyes, and I follow Six out to her bike, where she loads her backpack onto the back and turns to me. An awkward silence follows as we both try and figure out what to say.

"Just… be safe, Six," I offer finally. "As safe as you can be, anyway."

She looks me up and down. "I know you're not happy with us splitting up…"

"It's not…"

"Please, Tall, I've known you for a while now and you're a freakin' open book. But you just have to trust me on this one, okay? I know what I'm doing, or at least, I have a very good idea of what I'm doing."

"I do trust you."

"Good," she pulls me into a quick hug. "Take care of yourself."

"I will."

She looks passed me towards the house. "One more thing, if you ever get into a situation where you have to fight the Mogs, your girlfriend will kick ass." She gets onto her bike and starts it up.

I watch as she heads off, Ben following in a truck, and they disappear from sight.

_He knew they would figure it out one day. Mogadorians weren't really known for their intellect, but give them a four-piece puzzle and they'll put it together eventually._

_Malcolm guessed that was why he wasn't at all surprised when the door to his small apartment was smashed off his hinges and shattered into pieces at his feet. He'd seen pictures of the Mogadorians while on Lorien; even saw one from afar that had been captured. _

_During the raid, he'd been so focused on hell-tailing it off that planet, he hadn't stopped to watch the invaders. He didn't remember them being so tall and so, well, imposing. _

_He didn't bother fighting back as they dragged him from his home and threw a bag over his head._

_Come to think of it, he didn't recall Mogadorian's ever taking hostages before either. That was an entirely new concept. It was an entirely _human _concept. Bloody hell, he should have guessed the Mogadorians would have humans working on the inside. _

_It was dangerous. _

_Mogadorians on their own intelligence posed a threat, but a dumb-grunt army being led by a cunning human general, well, that was something Malcolm just wasn't ready to accept._

_He'd been in perpetual darkness for a few hours at least now, it was hard to keep track of time when you're head was stuck in a black fabric bag. He was in a car, and judging from the smell, was sharing it with a few Mogadorians. They hadn't bothered him since the beating back at his apartment. _

_Malcolm smelled of sweat and blood. _

_God, he hoped, he prayed Sam was alright. And Evelyn… he hoped Eva was somehow tracking his ass right now. As inevitable as it was, he could only hope she was. _

_There was one fact he was absolutely certain on._

_The second Evelyn got her hands on his kidnappers, they would be in for an excruciatingly painful end. _

**AN: Let me know what you guys think or what you think should happen, always fun to read :) **


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